Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT is a clinically proven, evidence-based therapy that is widely used to resolve common issues, ranging from work stress to grief. Many other forms of therapy focus on past events, such as traumas in childhood, while CBT focuses on the ‘here and now’.
The aim is to help you to quickly identify thoughts and feelings that are impacting you negatively so you can learn to change them
A CBT session begins with a therapist or psychiatrist clarifying your history and the problems being faced. They explain how the way we feel is linked to the way we think and behave, and that by replacing negative thoughts with more realistic ones we can change our feelings and behaviour.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques include:
- discussing how you think about yourself, the world and other people, and how what you do affects your thoughts and feelings
- keeping a diary of significant events and associated feelings, thoughts and behaviours, then questioning and testing thoughts that might be unhelpful and unrealistic
- gradually facing activities that may have been avoided and trying out new ways of behaving and reacting
The aim is to help you to quickly identify which areas of your thoughts, feelings and behaviours are negatively impacting you so you can learn to change them and maintain a health psychological balance on your own, without further support from the therapist or psychiatrist.