By Charlotte Webster-
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy useful in addressing anxiety problems. It helps change the way people think and handle their problems.
CBT is based on the notion that thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are all interrelated.
CBT aims to help people deal with overwhelming issues that weigh them down and steal their joy. The joy many people take CBT is a positive way to fragment the issue we have and address them skilfully and purposely. A young woman today appeared on ITV’s This Morning programme, having written a book about anxiety.
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The beautiful lady who we won’t name since we don’t know how much extra anxiety she may suffer from having her name and face permanently on a website. However, she did turn up on television to tell her story of how she was anxious in school, felt uncomfortable in public places because of the number of people around. Public transport was also a nightmare for her.
Many of us don’t even know people like this exist in society. I certainly did not before I was alerted to this story by a friend who saw the programme and kindly recorded it for me. Bless her.
The female guest of the ‘This Morning’ show said she has now overcome anxiety to a large extent, but not fully. It would normally have been difficult for her to even sit in the studio and tell her story, but she managed it. She tells how she met her present husband on a dating site and had to overcome psychological obstacles in meeting him. Walking down the aisle to wed him presented its own fresh challenges she had to overcome with treatment like CBT.
Others individuals suffer a different type of anxiety. Some people are anxious over bills, school, disputes, or even obsessive compulsive disorders(OCD) It could be anything.
CBT Therapist Change Unhelpful Thoughts
CBT will usually involve a session with a therapist once a week or once every two weeks. The course of treatment can be over a period of anything from between 8 to 20 sessions,with each session lasting 30-60 minutes.
During the sessions, CBT therapists seek to fragment the problems of the individual into many components that include one’s thoughts, physical feelings and actions. They are thoroughly analysed, with adverse or unhelpful aspects tackled and addressed to determine the effect they have on each other and on you.
The therapist then helps them change unhelpful thoughts and behaviours and replace them with more positive thoughts.
The therapist proceeds to get the individual to implement the positive thoughts and put them into action daily. They are subsequently reviewed with the eventual aim being to establish a progressive pattern of thought and behaviour.
CBT Effective In Addressing Mental Health
CBT has proved effective in addressing mental health issues and assisting people in leading more positive lives.
The format is varied and can be done in groups, individually, or through a computer.
CBT involves confronting one’s emotions and anxieties and reversing the negative effects of those emotions by thinking and acting differently. It generally costs between £40 and £100, but can actually be learnt and applied oneself if the principle guiding how it works is fully understood.