Counselling Articles

What can I expect during Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Treatment?

Although Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is increasingly popular, many of us are unclear about what it entails in practice. The format of therapy sessions usually varies according to which therapist you work with, but here is a general structure that many CBT therapists will follow:

STAGE ONE: Assessment.

Cognitive therapists will assess your current situation and ask about your past history. They may try to establish answers to the following questions:

• What are the main issues that are causing you difficulty?
• How do they interfere with your life at present?
• How long have these issues existed?
• What is your motivation level to want to change?
• How might your past experiences, family or peer, have a bearing on the current issue? (more…)

At some point in our lives  most of us will have experienced anger. Rush hour travel, computer crashes and problematic relationships are all aspects of modern day living that can tip us over the edge. Yet, this powerful emotion is perfectly normal, just like feelings of happiness, fear and sadness and in most cases it stays within a natural and controlled range. In fact, anger is an integral aspect of our evolutionary make-up helping us to instinctively detect and respond to threatening situations, as well as acting as a powerful motivating force to change aspects of our lives that we are dissatisfied with. Given its part in keeping both body and mind ready for action, a number of physiological changes characterise anger, including faster heart beat, breathing rate and increases in temperature and perspiration. (more…)

PressRelease: London, 24 March 2010. Enquiries have continued to grow for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) since Harley Therapy, a therapy service in Central London, first observed a growing trend in 2006. More established talking therapies, such as psychodynamic, gestalt, existential, person-centred or psychoanalytic therapy now appear to have been overtaken by CBT.

45% of enquiries for adult individual therapy (not including couples therapy, or child & adolescent counselling)) over the past 3 months have been for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy rather than any other therapeutic approaches on offer.

Clinical Director, Dr Sheri Jacobson believes that the popularity of CBT stems partly from the government’s roll out of CBT programs incorporated in the IAPT initiative (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies). (more…)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is premised on the idea that thoughts, moods, behaviours and physical sensations are interconnected. Changes in our thoughts and behaviours can have an impact upon our mood. The essence of cognitive work is to examine underlying thoughts and beliefs behind the emotional disturbances and to generate alternative, more balanced thoughts. This in turn will generate more positive feelings. Cognitive therapists aim to examine and challenge your thoughts and your behaviour to help improve how you feel. To this effect, they are trained to use a number of tools including Daily Thought Records and Behavioural Experiments.

CBT is  an evidence-based therapy treatment for conditions such as depression, stress, anxiety, trauma, eating issues, low self-esteem, anger management, relationship difficulties, work and career issues and phobias / obsessive compulsive disorder.