Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy provides individuals with ways of changing their negative thoughts, thereby improving how they feel, and how they relate to the world around them. The idea behind CBT is that the thoughts we have about our present situation influences our feelings and emotions, and how we react to that situation, i.e. how we behave.

So, if we have negative thoughts about what’s happening, we will tend to experience emotions that make us feel sad, angry, bitter, fearful or hopeless, depending on the situation. This, in turn, leads us to behave in unproductive ways that only reinforce the negative thoughts and feelings we had in the first place.

The opposite is true if we think positively about what’s occurring. With positive thoughts, we are more likely to have positive feelings, and do productive or proactive things in response to the circumstances.

When we look at people with emotional or psychological concerns, like depression, anxiety disorders, low self-esteem or chronic unhappiness, not only are their thoughts about their life situations negative, but the thoughts tend to be unrealistic or irrational as well.

In other words, their thoughts tend to follow certain negative and unrealistic patterns. For instance, taking things personally or to heart, jumping to conclusions, having perfectionist standards, or comparing themselves to others and always coming up second best.

The main reason for this is that people who are susceptible to developing emotional or psychological difficulties like depression and anxiety appear to have a deep-seated, self-critical personal belief system – an underlying view of themselves that makes them judge themselves in negative or self-defeating ways throughout each day. Judgements like “I’m a failure”, “I’m a loser”, “I’m unworthy” or “I’m unloveable”. This has been described by Tara Brach as the ‘trance of unworthiness’.

Their whole sense of themselves, that is, how they think or feel about themselves, is closely linked to whether they are getting approval from others, how successful they are in life, how well they feel they’re coping, and whether they feel they’re being weak or strong.

So, when faced with someone’s disapproval or a perceived failure or a sense of not being on top of things, they tend to fall apart. They experience deep unhappiness and despair, all the while blaming themselves for everything. A subsequent deterioration in their self-esteem develops.

A vicious circle of sadness, hopelessness, despair and feeling unworthy.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a therapeutic strategy that allows clients to find out more about the way they think, and the ways they interpret the world around them. As CBT progresses, clients become better able to recognise their underlying personal belief system, and are instructed in how to challenge both their thoughts and beliefs.

CBT tends to be a short-term therapy process. It is useful for a wide range of clinical problems, including depression and anxiety disorders, and a wide cross-section of people.

One of the main difficulties with CBT, however, is that relapses can occur following a period of relief from previous troubling symptoms. This results in clients returning to therapy for more help. This doesn’t happen with all clients, but enough for psychologists and other health practitioners to look at new ways to assist people to make long-term, life-long changes.

There is one therapeutic innovation, known as the third wave in psychology, that is a very exciting advance in the treatment of psychological concerns. It has the potential to revolutionize how we relate to mental health issues – their assessment and treatment.

This therapy/counselling approach is best known as Mindfulness. The essence of Mindfulness is being used in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness Therapy as well as other psychological treatment strategies. Initial research has shown that these new treatments for emotional concerns provide clients with the necessary life and coping skills to make significant long-term changes. This is fantastic news.