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What is CBT
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy which helps you to resolve problems by understanding how your thoughts, feelings, and your behaviours create unhelpful patterns in your life, and helping you to change those patterns to something more helpful. CBT is focused on helping you to understand how to recognise and alter these patterns yourself so that you become your own therapist. For this reason CBT tends to be a shorter therapy than many others, requiring a few weeks (unless the issues are long standing).
How does CBT work?
CBT works on the principle that our thoughts (cognitions), our emotions and our behaviours are all connected. If we can understand these connections we are able to identify patterns of unhelpful thinking styles and behaviours in areas of our life which are not working for us. Changing one of these individual parts can affect the other two. Once we understand these patterns we become empowered to alter them and to create change in our lives.
Through CBT you will become more aware of your thinking styles and how they impact your emotional state. You will be able to identify whether your behaviours are moving you towards the life you want, or are leaving you stuck. You will learn to challenge automatic assumptions to help you create change, and to better cope with distressing situations. This ultimately builds confidence and a sense of self-reliance.
Mental health is like physical health in many ways. It requires learning skills, and practising those skills in order to keep us mentally fit. CBT teaches you those skills and give you the confidence to practice them.
You can find out more about CBT in this video
What can CBT help with & how many sessions will I need?
CBT is recommended in the NICE guidelines for treatment of many anxiety conditions as well as depression and sleeping problems including:
- anxiety disorders
- panic attacks
- depression
- obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- tinnitus
- insomnia
There is also good evidence that CBT is helpful in helping people cope with the symptoms of many other conditions, including:
- chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)
- irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- fibromyalgia
- chronic pain
- sleep difficulties
- low self-esteem
The number of sessions depends on the difficulties you are having, and your goals for therapy. The NICE guidelines suggest that CBT may last for anything between 6-20 sessions. If you would like to discuss your situation to see if a talking therapy would help, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Perinatal Mental Health
The perinatal period is a vulnerable time for our mental health. It is a time where relationships and family dynamics change, we take on a new identity as a parent, we have many new skills to learn while having disrupted sleep and hormonal shifts. We may be struggling with feeding or baby care, or a baby who is very unsettled. One in 5 new parents struggle with their mental health, and one in 6 subsequent parents. Perinatal mental health difficulties can be experience by both parents / caregivers. Postnatal depression is a term that is recognised in society generally, but post natal anxiety is often not discussed as much even though it affects many parents. This may take the form of worry, panic, insomnia, intrusive thoughts, obsessive checking on your baby etc. You might feel that something is wrong with your baby, or have thoughts that just don't seem to go away around their weight / development / health / sleep / safety / or even around the influence of your extended family on your baby. You may be feeling that you are struggling to connect or bond with your baby, or that you are doing something wrong or not doing a good enough job as a parent. Many people feel like this, or struggle with their anxious thoughts, and many don't want to tell anyone in case a health professional thinks they aren't capable of looking after their baby. In fact these thoughts usually mean that you are a very attentive parent, but you are just worried. CBT can be an very effective way of dealing with these issues, and you can be assured of empathy and understanding in our sessions.
How we feed our babies can have a big impact on mental health in the perinatal period. If you want to breastfeed, and breastfeeding is going well, it is very protective of mental health. In fact you are half as likely to experience a mental health problem. If however, you want to breastfeed but are struggling and not getting the support you need you are twice as likely to experience a mental health problem. Parents tell me that in these situations they are often advised to wean their babies, even when breastfeeding is something they feel is very important to them. I feel it is important for parents to be able to access mental health support which is also supportive of their feeding choices (whatever they may be) and that any CBT interventions will be supportive of your breastfeeding and attachment needs.
Important Information
All material on this website is provided for educational purposes only. If you are concerned about your mental or physical health, or that of your child, consult with your health care provider with respect to your individual situation.