Where CBT can help
Cognitive behavioural therapy is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. It's most commonly used to treat anxiety, low mood, stress, anger, phobias and fears and panic but can be useful for other mental health issues.
Anxiety & Stress
Anxiety and stress are not the most awful things in the world. Experiencing anxiety/ stress does not mean you need to get professional help. In fact, anxiety is a necessary warning sign of a dangerous or difficult situation. Without it we would have no way of recognising danger or anticipating difficulties and preparing for them.
Anxiety/ stress becomes a problem when the symptoms start getting in the way of your daily life and ability to function.
Evidence based research suggests that CBT is a successful psychotherapy for the treatment of anxiety.
Phobias/Fears
Phobias and fears can be debilitating; a place, a situation, an object, an experience or an animal that rationally poses little or no actual danger. Phobias/fears can stop us from doing the things we want to do or go to places we want to go. Someone with a phobia/ fear has a very strong need to avoid or escape from the source of their fear or phobia.
Phobias/ fears are among the most treatable conditions with CBT and it is the recognised treatment of choice (NICE Guidelines)
Low Mood/Depression
Feeling sad and depressed for weeks or months on end — not just a having a bad day to two. This feeling is most often accompanied by a sense of hopelessness, a lack of energy or motivation and taking little or no pleasure in things that once gave a person fun and enjoyment in their lives.
CBT helps you break this cycle by encouraging you to identify and challenge critical, unhelpful automatic thoughts and by building behavioural activation i.e engaging in activities that increase a sense of achievement and enjoyment.
Self Esteem
Self-esteem refers to the beliefs a person has about themselves and the value they place upon themselves. People with low self-esteem view themselves in a negative way. They are self-critical and self-doubting and tend to focus on their weaknesses or mistakes. Typically, blaming themselves for personal difficulties or failures and underestimating and ignoring their positive qualities.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approach for tackling low self-esteem is by focusing on the cognitive aspects i.e self critical thinking and refocussing negative automatic thinking patterns.
Panic
Panic attacks are feelings of terror that come on suddenly and repeatedly, most often with no warning. They can be scary and the frequency and severity of panic symptoms are unpredictable A person usually can’t predict when an attack will occur, and so many develop anxiety between episodes, worrying when and where the next one will strike.
CBT exposes you to different ways of thinking, behaving, and reacting to the feelings that come with a panic attack.