CBT
CBT, (cognitive behavioural therapy), is a solutions based therapy that works in the here and now, challenging your negative thought patterns and finding new ways for you to approach life and its challenges. It is an active therapy, with you taking a proactive role, which will include ‘homework’ for you to complete in-between sessions, (no essays though!)
Our thoughts and feelings have an effect on our behaviour, and vice versa. By challenging your thought processes, you can positively effect your feelings around a situation, and as such, your behaviours will change too. This can then have a knock on effect on your whole life.
We will examine your learnt behaviours, habits and negative thoughts to challenge and change them into more productive, helpful ways of thinking.
CBT acknowledges that our pasts do effect us, however, it is firmly rooted in the present, and doesn’t aim to unravel your past. Instead it has you reevaluating what you have learnt and how you act today.
It is especially effective on specific issues. If your issues are more general then another therapy, such as person centred or hypnoanalysis, could be incorporated to search for what is troubling you, and then CBT can be used to explore useful alternatives for you. CBT aims at solving the problem, rather than finding out why the problem occurred.
CBT would look at your issue, and then aim to break it down into more manageable parts. The first sessions will be information gathering, so that you can really begin to see what is happening for you, and then, with a more focused direction, we will move onto working on your thoughts, feelings, and actions. These elements are all interconnected, and your feelings will effect how you feel about a situation or person, and as such, your actions will change. CBT aims to show you different ways of reacting so you can break out of negative cycles.
It is an effective therapy, and one that, if you commit to it, can help you in a number of powerful ways.
All you need is to be ready to change!