What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?

CBT combines Cognitive Therapy, which examines and seeks to modify or eliminate your unwanted thoughts and beliefs, and Behavioural Therapy, which can help you to your change behaviour in response to those thoughts. When negative thoughts are triggered, they lead to upsetting feelings, which then affect our mood and behaviour. If a person is unable to counter such thoughts with a more positive view, a negative vicious cycle develops and perceptions of a situation can become distorted.

Aims of CBT

Using a set of structured techniques, CBT aims to identify the thinking that is causing your unwanted feelings and behaviours, and to teach you new skills and new, more positive ways of thinking and responding. The aim of CBT is for the client and therapist to work in partnership to decide jointly on the goals to work towards and plan homework assignments and session topics together.

How CBT works

CBT is a short-term treatment of around 6 - 20 individual sessions. The number of sessions will depend on the type of problem and on the your commitment. CBT does not focus on the events from your past (such as your childhood) but focuses on current difficulties at the present time.

Effectiveness of CBT

Research on CBT has been carried out extensively. This has shown it to be an effective form of psychological therapy, particularly for the following:
• Anxiety & Panic Attacks
• Phobias (e.g. agoraphobia, social phobia)
• Depression
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Eating problems
• Child and adolescent problems
• Chronic Pain
• Habit problems (e.g. tics)
• Anger
• Drug or Alcohol problems
• Schizophrenia and Psychosis
• Bipolar Disorder
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Sleep Disorders

Guidelines from the Department of Health, as well as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) support the use of CBT as an effective intervention for such common psychological difficulties.