Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

CBT looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions link together. CBT techniques often focus on collecting evidence that confirms or disproves our thoughts so we can judge if we are accurately perceiving the world. 

Sometimes our anxious feelings are at odds with the relative stability of our lives, or our negative self-judgements are do not match up with our provable talents and skills. At times like these we need a system to sort out factual thoughts from thoughts driven by emotion.

CBT can help you approach life with less avoidance, more follow-through, fewer blow-ups, and better sleep. CBT works especially well for problems with a clear learning pattern like Panic Disorder and Insomnia, and for habit-based issues like procrastination. 

CBT emphasises work in between sessions and the understanding that a lot of progress takes place on the initiative of the client in their everyday lives.

CBT is adaptable because it can stand alone or work alongside medication prescribed by a GP or psychiatrist. When used together, therapy can give you needed insights and life skills while the medication helps stabilise any extreme symptoms.

Clients who value order, routine, and clear instructions often find CBT a comfortable and effective way to work.

Alongside Person-Centred Therapy, CBT is one of the most widely used forms of talk therapy because it is practical, measurable, and backed by many long-term studies.

However, it is only a tool, and its effectiveness depends on effort and repetition.

When using CBT in session we might plan out small behavioural experiments to test whether our fears are based in reality or assumption. We track what we learn between sessions and how our feelings have changed.

When applying CBT for anxiety, we use graded exposure, taking small, planned steps toward the thing we fear.

Clients can eventually learn to apply CBT techniques automatically in daily life.