Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is currently considered the treatment of choice for:

- Anxiety - Depression - Panic - Agoraphobia and other phobias - Social phobia - Obsessive compulsive disorder It is also used to a greater or lesser extent in treating the following: - Schizophrenia - Bulimia - Post traumatic stress disorder

                          

The aim of CBT is to help you understand how you think about yourself and your life, and how those thoughts effect how you feel. The goal is to change dysfunctional thinking and challenge old behaviour patterns with more positivity and a calmer body and mind.

Does it work? Absolutely! It has proved to be extremely effective although one or two caveats should be mentioned. It doesn't deal with the past at all, and some research and some therapists believe that dealing with past traumas can be extremely important although this is a matter of some conjecture. If exposure feels unduly difficult then perhaps further exploration of underlying causes is called for, and CBT doesn't cover this. Read more about the background to CBT.

So what actually happens? The therapist will explain the vicious circle: Situation – Thoughts – Feelings – Actions – Situations etc.

He or she will then show how to break the cycle by changing the thoughts and actions. If the thoughts and actions change the feelings and situations you fiond yourself experiencing will also change.

   For example:

A woman going to work one day feels anxious on the metro, she starts to question herself: what will happen to me? What if I go mad or freak out? I won't be able to cope! Her heart beats faster and faster and eventually she gets off two stops earlier and walks the rest of the way to work.

After CBT treatment the same woman might catch feelings of anxiety rising inside her. She might tell herself that she has attributed these feelings to being on a metro in the past but that she was wrong, she is perfectly safe. If she panicked it would pass and nothing bad would happen to her. She could cope with it and has probably already felt as anxious as she ever will. Instead of getting off at the next stop she modifies her behaviour by staying put. Within minutes the feelings have subsided and she's feeling ready for her day at work.

   What to expect:

Hour long sessions normally weekly for on average twelve weeks, graded exposure so mountains are broken down into molehills, writing and homework and hard work. Success!

   Useful links:

Royal College of Psychiatrists

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