5 Ways Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Helps You
Do You Resonate With These Points?
Do you want to know what CBT is? No, it’s not an acronym for the U.K.’s motorbike practical test (bad joke I know I know, I digress). Rather, CBT therapy is a well-known yet severely misunderstood type of therapy and healing process that many people know but don’t know. They think they have it all figured out, only to be startled by how much this type of therapy resembles an iceberg: the peak is visible and obvious but the real formula lies in breaking down the nuanced therapy process and using it in a competent manner. CBT is used by the NHS as the recommended form of treatment and is short term in nature. It also forms as part of the wider government scheme called the ‘IAPT — Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ which many have heard of.
So here are 5 main ways in which CBT counselling helps you:
1) It’s a pragmatic therapy. It’s aim is to help you become the expert of your problem. As a cognitive therapist, I do not tell you what to do, I work with you and this is how all therapy is conducted. If you thought that CBT was just about proving the client’s thinking patterns were wrong, well guess what? That idea couldn’t be anymore misleading. I will publish more blogs on this issue as it confuses a lot of people but the take-home message is that all forms of counselling/therapy is about team-work, balance and respect.
2) Cognitive therapy looks at many different aspect of a person’s problem, there’s a good amount of assessments but obviously, our job is not to drive you mad with nonsensical amounts of paperwork, but only to include the essential, to get a snapshot of your problem. Some like this approach, some don’t. That’s reality. However some clients just want to talk and that’s great too. Remember, therapy is collaborative.
3) Cognitive therapy has high evidence-based support. For example, one study at https://www.nhs.uk/news/mental-health/if-drugs-dont-work-for-depression-cbt-may/ looked at the effectiveness of CBT therapy on patients suffering from anxiety and depression across the U.K. vs those using medication alone and found that the CBT group using medication in conjunction, had a 46% success rate during 6 months follow-up vs. 22% in the non-CBT group. At 12 months, the success rate for CBT was 55% as opposed to only 31% for non-CBT group. This provides good efficacy for CBT where clients can be helped via medication combined with CBT or CBT therapy alone, therefore CBT therapy is not a hindrance to people’s mental health outcomes, it only improves it! More and more research is being done, but research consistently shows therapy is either equally effective or more effective than taking medication alone. Add to the fact that therapy/counselling is usually short-term, should portray the value it has in helping people with a range of problem areas.
4) Cognitive therapy allows you to build upon the skills learned during session outside of sessions too. This will give you the experience and skills you need to combat your pesky problem and overcome the strenuous challenges you’re experiencing.
5) There’s so much work to be done during therapy that will leave you feeling like you hit the gym or did the Triathlon (well-done to those that compete in such challenging events). But this is all good work, it will stimulate your mind and actually divert attention away from your problems and shift it’s resources on creating a problem-solving work horse brain. Amazing no? Don’t think I will only help to divert your focus away. That is just the surface of it, the deeper work will come as therapy progresses.
So that wraps up the main points of why you need a fully-fledged cognitive behavioural therapist in your life if you have anxiety, depression, phobias, trauma, OCD, panic, relationships and so much more. Until next time.
