What is CBT?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that helps people manage their problems by changing the way they think (cognitive) and behave (behaviour).
It is based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviours and that we can change the way we think to feel and act better even if the situation that is causing the difficulties does not change. The aim of CBT is to prepare patients to take a more active, positive, and responsible role in their lives, and to respond to setbacks and new challenges in a positive, healthy and productive way.
How does CBT work?
CBT helps patients make sense of overwhelming problems by breaking them down into smaller factors that are making them feel bad, anxious or scared so that they are more manageable, and it looks at using practical ways to improve the state of mind on a daily basis to helps stop the negative cycles.
Not only it has been shown to be helpful at tackling problems such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), relationship problems, eating disorders, drug & alcohol misuse and coping with grief and loss but it has also been shown to be very effective treating people with long-term health conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), arthritis and back pain.
Although CBT does not remove patient’s problems or cure physical symptoms, it encourages patients to examine how their actions can affect how they think and feel, it provides them with tools and techniques that can help them manage their problems and health conditions and have a more positive and healthier look on things hence making them feel better about life.
Even though therapy sessions are not meant for the long term (normally once or twice a week usually designed to end between 5 to 20 weekly or fortnightly sessions), it is important to practise the skills learnt thru CBT to ensure we keep a healthy look on life.
The importance of implementing the Cognitive Behavioural Life Coaching approach to our daily lives
We grow up with beliefs about who we are, about other people and the world we live in. These are called Core Beliefs.
They determine how we perceive ourselves and to what degree we feel, for example, worthy, competent, powerful, successful, beautiful and someone to be loved. It is therefore very important to understand what core believes we hold about ourselves as negative, unhelpful or unfounded beliefs can be extremely poisonous to our self-acceptance and self-esteem, to the way we view the world and life events and, finally, to our mental and emotional health.
Core Beliefs are used in the Cognitive Behavioural approach as a first step to understand who we really are and not what we wrongly or inaccurately grew up believing. They are used to comprehend our life choices and allow us to make better and more informed ones in the future.
At the base of the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is the owing of more accurate and healthy positive beliefs about ourselves, the people around us and the world which will bring more positive effects on our lives and lead us to a healthier existence.
My aim is to offer you some of the tools used in the CBT approach alongside Life Coaching techniques to empower and enable you to unlock your own mental well-being.
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| Disclaimer: if you are afflicted by any of the medical conditions above reported, and feel you would benefit from a one-to-one session with a CBT practitioner, I encourage you to make an appointment with your GP to discuss and arrange this as soon as possible. Although at Wellness & Purpose you can find many CBT tools and Life Coaching techniques to implement in your daily life to promote wellness, in some case a one-to-one session could hugely help. Seeing a CBT practitioner does not mean you are mentally ill nor that you are weak, but it can help you improve your standard of life enormously and help you manage future difficulties. Seeing a CBT practitioner to help us with our cognitive and behavioural difficulties is no different to seeing a doctor or specialist when we have a flue, a sprain or a cut. One treats the mind, the other the body. That’s all. Do not let this stigma stop you from seeking the help you need. It could save you years of headaches and worries. In the UK you can get psychological therapies, including CBT, on the NHS. Alternatively, if you can afford it, you can choose to pay for your therapy privately. The cost of private therapy sessions varies, but it’s usually £40 to £100 per session. The British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) keeps a register of all accredited therapists in the UK and The British Psychological Society (BPS) has a directory of chartered psychologists, some of whom specialise in CBT. |
