Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - CBT Bournemouth & Dorset

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy CBT is one of the therapeutic interventions I rely on most in my work in my clinical practice.

This is because I find it is so effective (especially when used in conjunction with hypnosis) for a variety of mental health conditions, including, but not limited to anxiety disorders, social anxiety, panic disorder, negative thinking and negative feelings, obsessive compulsive disorder, building confidence, substance use disorders and mood disorders such as depression.

What does CBT therapy involve?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT for short is in my view a rather complicated term for a very simple thing, which sadly is often the case in psychology.

My description of it would simply be that it is like having a wise old friend who whenever you go to visit them can always get you to look at something from a different angle or think of something you hadn’t previously thought of. That in a nutshell is what I think CBT is all about.

The "official" definition

It is more officially described as “thinking therapy”, or a talking therapy that helps one develop coping skills for everyday life. It is about understanding the correlation between the ways in which we think and how that affect how we feel and behave.

Of course, there is a direct link, this is why 2 people can experience exactly the same life event or circumstances, yet have 2 completely different emotional responses.

Clearly, if it was the event or circumstances that create how we feel we would all respond the same way emotionally to the same situations and we don’t!

For example, two people are made redundant from the same role with the same life circumstances and commitments, one becomes depressed, thinks he will never work again and struggles financially, yet the other takes it as an opportunity to start their own business and becomes very wealthy.

The difference is in how each of the two thought about the situation – as both had the same opportunity.

As a great Greek philosopher once wrote: “Man is not moved by events, but rather by his view of those events.”

So there has to be another part of the puzzle and a lot of that is down to our automatic thought processes and belief systems (many of which are laid down very early on in childhood) so a large part of CBT is about learning to uncover some of those automatic thought processes and belief systems and over time (and I stress over time) challenge and change those automatic thought patterns and belief systems which then of course, in turn, positively affects how we feel and behave.

The history of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy CBT

There were 2 CBT therapists who were considered to be the founding fathers of the science of CBT, one was a gentleman by the name of Dr Aaron Beck and the other (and actually the first) was Dr Albert Ellis.

They both had very different styles of working and by far the most common approach these days, particularly within the NHS, is the Aaron Beck style.

This is what is known as a very “Socratic” approach, not unlike counselling. It is about teasing the answers out of people and helping them to find their own solutions.

The reason it is done that way is based on the old adage that “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish, you feed him for life”. As a cbt therapist, I have every respect and admiration for this particular ideal and methodology.

 

The limitations of that approach

However, if you have a 5-year-old child who is struggling with the rudiments of mathematics, telling that child that you have every faith in their ability to work it out for themselves is very encouraging, very supportive and wonderful for a number of different reasons, it is however in my humble opinion, of little practical use whatsoever.

My personal style of working with CBT is far more along the lines of Albert Ellis’s methods (these days more commonly referred to as REBT or Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy). It is a very Didactic approach and will throw masses of information at you and if just a few per cent of that sticks we will be looking good 😊

What will CBT Cognitive Behavioural Therapy actually involve during therapy sessions?

Sometimes it is just chatting, I will introduce new ideas and concepts to you and we will throw them around with some stories and analogies and examples until you are happy with them and can use them for yourself.

Other times there will be some homework assignments for in between consultations.

They are never particularly complicated exercises that will take you hours and hours to complete as I understand you are probably busy enough as it is but some of them will be quite thought-provoking, so you may realistically need an hour or 2 during the course of the week to do some of them justice. Sometimes this will be in one go, sometimes it will be 5 or 10 minutes a day, just depends on the nature of the particular exercise I set that week.

The way it works is that during our therapy sessions, I will issue you with the assignment, then you take it away and have a go at it and bring it back to the following consultation. We will then have a look at it and chat it through together and at the end I will give it back to you as they are always "works in progress" and never completely “finished”.

I will warn you that there is every likelihood that sometimes when I set you an exercise you may be left scratching your head thinking, why has he given me this? What has this got to do with anything I went to see him about? Certainly, if I set you one of the children's films to watch, you will undoubtedly think I have gone barking mad, but whatever I give you, please do bear with it because I can pretty much assure you that by the end of our work together you will be sat there thinking "that sneaky git" but in a very good way 🙂

Think about the movie "The Karate Kid" when the master has him polishing cars and painting fences and the student is thinking "I'm not learning anything!" but as we know, oh yes he was 🙂

At times, I may also provide self help materials and/or suggest other types of therapy as part of our goal oriented approach. Regardless you will always be an active participant in any decisions we make about your ongoing treatment.

In summary, what CBT can do for you

CBT aims to help you to help yourself and positively change your present thoughts and feelings, thereby enabling you to enjoy your daily life.

Undertaking a course of CBT therapy in Bournemouth can help you to uncover your automatic thought processes and beliefs and over time, challenge and change those that are unhelpful (or those that once may have been helpful but now cause more problems than they solve). In turn, this positively affects how you feel and behave.

CBT has become increasingly popular in recent years due to its logical approach to problem solving and its effectiveness in a short period of time.

In contrast to some other ‘talking therapies’, CBT focuses on the ‘here and now’ of problems and difficulties, rather than looking for causes in the past (although when appropriate these are not ignored).

CBT can be very successful in treating:

·    Anxiety
·    Depression
·    Panic attacks
·    Phobias in Bournemouth and Dorset
·    Social anxiety
·    Obsessive compulsive disorder
·    Eating disorders
·    Post traumatic stress disorder

As mentioned previously, CBT treatment often involves the completion of assignments between consultations. A commitment on the part of the patient to complete this work is important for the treatment to be fully effective.

How many sessions will be required?

Your treatment plan will be unique to you and your individual needs.

Depending on the combination of psychological issues you present and in order to combat your negative thoughts by developing adequate coping mechanisms to solve problems, every case is different.

However, as a rule of thumb, we expect to see significant improvement in almost all cases within 6 to 12 consultations.

Do You use Exposure Therapy?

Whilst historically exposure therapy was a regular CBT intervention, it is far less commonly used in modern times due to its hit and miss results. It can sometimes be an effective treatment in PTSD cases but this depends on the exact context of the individual case. Personally, as a cbt therapist, I rarely use it.

What is CBT not good for?

Cognitive behavioural therapy CBT, like all types of Cognitive therapy, is an effective tool that can be helpful for almost all mental health problems and unhelpful thoughts.

However, it has limited use in cases such as bereavement, grief or chronic pain, where other interventions we offer such as counselling or hypnotherapy may be more effective treatments.

 

What to do next

If you’re based in Bournemouth or Dorset and want to find out how cognitive behavioural therapy can help you,

contact Dolphin Hypnotherapy for a half-price initial assessment consultation with no obligation, telephone Dolphin Hypnotherapy Practice on 07790 333431 (24 hours), or BOOK ONLINE now, using voucher code INITIALAC (and be sure to click apply).

(Please note that in the event of non-attendance or cancellation with less than 48 hours notice, our standard consultation fee will be charged).

Please also be aware that if you are not able to attend face to fact cbt sessions at one of our clinics, we do offer successful online therapy including CBT programs to our patients worldwide via zoom, Whatsapp and various other means.