Brief overview of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
CBT takes problems that the client identifies and breaks those problems down into smaller, more manageable parts. A key component of CBT is to help you establish the link between;
and your;
CBT enables the client to identify the connection between the way they are thinking about a situation, the way those thoughts cause you to feel, and how those feelings and thoughts interact to affect the way you behave. From this standpoint, it then becomes possible to change the way you are behaving, by altering the way you think and feel.
CBT programmes will usually consist of an agreed, fixed number of sessions with a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist. These sessions will generally happen once a week, and you will have a future date for finishing your programme. Within that time-span, you as the client, will agree with the therapist a number of goals and targets which you will devise plans for working towards.
While working towards your goals and targets, the therapist will encourage you to talk about progress you have been making, look at what hasn't gone well since the last session, and try to develop new ways forward. The therapist may suggest 'homework' for you to do, which may include recording your behaviour and feelings in a diary-form, or carrying out 'behavioural experiments' that you have planned with your therapist. The idea of these techniques is to enable the client to see that there are alternative ways of behaving and thinking that will have a positive affect on the way they are feeling.
When is CBT used?
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is not a wonder treatment - it will not work for all conditions, nor will it work for all clients. However, research has shown it to be very helpful with, amongst others, the following conditions:
Anxiety (including Social, GAD etc)
Depression
Phobias
Panic
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Schizophrenia
Bulimia
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Do I need professional support?
There are a great number of very useful self-help books, and do-it-yourself guides available (those above are a few that I have used and found to be very beneficial), and these can often be a great starting point. Indeed, the major aim of CBT is to empower people to use the techniques to resolve their problems on their own, without the need for professional support.
However, that said, many clients find the guidance, understanding, and support of a therapist invaluable - particulary in the early stages of standing up to their anxieties, depression or phobias. And it will also depend on how well-established your problems are - some problems will require a great deal more effort to resolve than others, and sometimes, particularly in respect of a condition like depression, it is the lack of motivation to resolve the problem that a therapist will provide the catalyst for. Results may be achieved far quicker with the added support and guidance of a professional therapist, but this is for an individual to decide - possibly with the help of their GP.