Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Learn to change negative thinking patterns and be in control of your life.

Coginitive Behavioural Therapy

Hello and welcome. I am a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, Hypnotherapist and Life Coach based in Menstrie, only a few miles from Stirling. The practice is within easy travelling distance of Stirling, Perth, Dunblane, Glasgow, Falkirk, Edinburgh. Ideally located for anyone seeking therapy in Central Scotland.

What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?

Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, helps people to cope with stress and emotional problems. It looks at the connections between how we think, how we feel and how we behave. It particularly concentrates on ideas that are unrealistic. These often undermine our self-confidence and make us feel depressed or anxious.

CBT focuses on the way people think and act in order to help them overcome their emotional problems.

The effectiveness of CBT has been extensively researched more than any other therapy and has shown that people stay well longer.

Cognitive

Cognitive means mental processes like thinking.

Behaviour

Behaviour refers to everything that you do. This includes what you say; how you try to solve problems, how you act, and avoidance.

Therapy

Therapy is a word used to describe a systematic approach to combating a problem, illness or irregular condition.

CBT is a focused, problem-solving psychotherapy that has been shown in over 375 outcome studies to be highly effective for the treatment of many mental health issues such as depression, general anxiety disorders, panic, anger and many other symptoms.

Combining (CBT) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with Hypnotherapy creates a powerful treatment solution that can help with a wide range of issues.

Department of Health strongly supports and confirms the evidence validating the effectiveness of CBT for anxiety disorders, depression and other emotional, psychological problems.

How problems are maintained

In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy we try to understand how the problems are maintained. This could be because of:

  • Unhelpful Behaviours (e.g. avoidance or substance use);
  • Thinking distortions (like catastrophising or always looking at the worst part of an experience).
  • Negative emotional states (like hopelessness, shame or guilt).
  • Physical symptoms (such as lack of energy or palpitations).
  • Life events (such as consequences from assaults or redundancy).

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy offers specific interventions or techniques to help overcome the difficulties in all the above areas.

What you can expect from the therapy

  • You will gain new insights. You will start to spot repetitive, unhelpful patterns of behaviour. You will begin to see why you respond in particular ways in particular situations.
  • You will increase your ability to change. As you gain insight, you will find that you can choose to react differently, to experiment with new and more positive behaviours.
  • Short Duration of therapy. Most issues are resolved within 4 to 10 weekly sessions. Each session lasts 1 hour.
  • Relapse Prevention. Because you ares given the skills to cope with their disorder, you will learn to become your own therapist reducing the risk of relapse.
  • Lasting Results. Cognitive therapy emphasizes many practical strategies that can be used even when therapy is over to allow you to cope with life more effectively in the future.

What conditions can be helped by CBT?

CBT has been shown to help people with various condition

  • certain anxiety disorders including phobias, panic attacks and panic disorder
  • depression
  • eating disorders
  • obsessive compulsive disorder
  • body dysmorphic disorder
  • anger
  • post-traumatic-stress disorder
  • sexual and relationship problems
  • drug or alcohol abuse
  • some sleep problems

As a rule, the more specific the problem, the more likely CBT may help. This is because it is a practical therapy which focuses on particular problems and aims to overcome them.

How does CBT-based Hypnotherapy differ from ordinary hypnosis?

CBT-based Hypnotherapy combines the efficacy of hypnotherapy with the self-awareness gained from the well-proven psychological technique of CBT. Research has shown that this approach is more successful than either straightforward hypnotherapy or 'standalone' CBT

What is likely to happen during a course of CBT?

The first session of therapy will be used to identify how your thoughts, ideas, feelings, attitudes, and behaviours affect your day-to-day life.

We would then agree a treatment plan and goals to achieve, and the number of sessions likely to be needed. Sessions are weekly and last about 1 hour. Most courses of CBT combined with hypnotherapy will last for a few weeks. It is common to have 4 to 10 sessions, but a course of CBT can be longer or shorter, depending on the nature and severity of the condition.

You need to take an active part, and are given 'homework' between sessions. For example, if you have social phobia, early in the course of therapy you may be asked to keep a diary of your thoughts which occur when you become anxious before a social event. Later on you may be given homework of trying out ways of coping which you have learned during therapy.