What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?

At CBT sessions, you work with a therapist / trainer to learn and apply great coping skills through awareness and self-regulation of your thoughts and feelings and behaviours.
We learn to identify our automatic ‘bad thinking habits’, and to develop more rational and appropriate interpretations and responses to events and situations.
We learn to develop better coping skills for stressors and challenging events and situations – consciously and deliberately, over time.
Modern CBT is not just about thoughts and emotions – it also includes neurobiology and understanding anxiety as a physical reaction.
It’s a very practical measured and proven ‘evidence based’ psychotherapy.

It’s a fast intervention therapy – improvements often show within just a few sessions, which means it’s a lower cost to access for those who don’t have the inclination or time or money for long term deep counselling. It is also an alternative if you have already been in more traditional talking therapy but haven’t had a great outcome.
It’s a ‘psycho-educational’ model in which the client effectively ‘becomes their own therapist’, building new habits that stick.
Studies show that engaged learners can develop life changing skills that stay with them forever (your ‘toolbox).
CBT ‘homework’ handout and worksheet resources can be used in your own time and at your own pace, building a toolbox that works for you.
It is the worlds fastest growing first choice therapy.

What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?

With its emphasis on collaboration, practical tools, and evidence-based techniques, CBT is proven to empower individuals in awareness and self-regulation for emotional well-being and personal growth.

CBT helps us with understanding how we judge and interpret the things that happen to us, what significance or meaning we give to them, and how that style of thinking influences our feelings and behaviours. Modern CBT also helps you to understand the role your body and nervous system plays in stress hormone surges, and to identify how dysregulation / anxiety interferes with our response to the world.

Classic CBT has been around since the 60’s in various forms. Many agree it has two main ‘founding fathers’: Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck. Both had trained as psychoanalysts in the 1950s, and both were essentially research scientists as well as practitioners, meaning they measured data and outcomes – and both were ultimately unhappy with delving into the deep subconscious mind as a treatment, because it didn’t give good outcomes, (meaning the clients ‘didn’t get better’) – and both focussed on the same findings, that how the person explains the world to themselves largely causes how they feel and behave – and that stress distorts thinking, which can cause overly negative feelings and self sabotaging behaviours – but we can literally learn to un-distort our thinking, consciously and deliberately, which will help to regulate how we feel and behave in productive healthy ways. Think different, feel different, behave different, with CBT.

Check out my regularly ranked ‘Top 10 CBT Blog in the World‘ resources site for more extensive information and CBT handouts and worksheets. (My work is used by mental health professionals all over the world.)

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CHANGE YOUR MIND | CHANGE YOUR MOOD | CHANGE YOUR LIFE

CBT is different to the traditional talking therapies in that it is a psychoeducational approach that teaches clients to apply methods and techniques to their problems – effectively becoming their own therapist by understanding and managing their thinking (cognitive), feeling (emotional and physical), and doing (behaviour), for a better life experience. According to CBT, it’s largely our interpretation and processing of events that leads to our upsets. Put simply, we human beings can often cause our own upsettness, therefore we can uncause it.

CBT helps us to change how we think (“Cognitive”) and what we do (“Behaviour)”.

These changes help us to feel good and enjoy life and stay motivated even in troubling times. Most people, at one time or another need some help in understanding ways to improve their life. Sometimes it’s overwhelming life stress or a particular crisis that causes negative changes for a person. In these times people seek to gain insight and acceptance about themselves and to achieve personal growth. CBT is for anyone who is unhappy with the way he or she feels and acts, and wants to change. Unlike other treatments, it focuses on the “here and now” of problems and difficulties. It looks for ways to improve your state of mind now / today.

SIMPLE SUMMARY – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that focuses on helping people understand how their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected. It is based on the idea that our thoughts affect how we feel and how we behave.

In CBT, a therapist works with an individual to identify and challenge negative or unhelpful thoughts and beliefs. These thoughts often contribute to problems such as anxiety, depression, or unhealthy behaviours. By examining these ‘attributional styles’ (this is a psychology term for how we explain the world to ourselves), a person can learn to reframe them with more realistic and evidence based and positive ones.

CBT also involves learning and practicing new coping skills and strategies. The goal is to change unhelpful patterns of behavior and develop healthier ways of thinking and responding to different situations. This can involve techniques such as problem-solving, relaxation exercises, or gradual exposure to fears or anxieties.

Overall, CBT aims to help individuals gain a better understanding of their own thoughts and emotions, and to develop skills to manage them effectively. It is a practical and action-oriented approach that can be helpful for a wide range of mental health concerns.