Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a collection of various approaches developed over the last 50 years.
CBT’s earliest focus was on behaviours, and later developed to focus on the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Now CBT focuses on a combination of these and as well as the deep-seated beliefs about ourselves form the thoughts and rules by which we operate our lives, often lying beyond our awareness.
More recently CBT has developed to work on the over-arching relationship with thoughts themselves, and not just with the content of them.
Famous authors in this area include Ellis, Beck, Padesky, Leahy, Wells, Grant, Williams, Clark and Segal; amongst others.
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy has also been incorporated into other therapies for a more generic ‘cognitive behavioural approach’.
What’s the evidence for it?
CBT has the strongest evidence base of all the therapies, and in the UK is consistently the most recommended form of psychotherapy, particularly for anxiety and depression, as well as the more serious and longstanding mental health problems.
CBT is an is an approach that is unique and well researched. If practiced by people skilled in developing the relationship with clients, as our therapists are, is highly effective, because we employ the most efficacious elements of therapy.
What can CBT be useful to treat?
CBT has a great deal of evidence to support its use, with clear guidelines developed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence [NICE] for a number of conditions in which it is reccommended. NICE have guidelines for the treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bipolar Disorder as well as the less ‘diagnosable’ problems all of which advocate the use of CBT.
You can look in the detail of guidance for the specific research studies that support the recommendations.
CBT has become more widely practiced in the UK under the substantial Improved Access To Psychological Therapies [IAPT] initiative which aims to effectively put in place therapists to delivery the above NICE Guidelines. Parallel to this initiative more detailed clinical guidelines and competencies have been produced.
Well practiced CBT is user friendly, and the process of ‘formulation’ or ‘conceptualization’ is the cornerstone of good practice with some supporting research evidence for its use. A formulation is a map that you and the therapist can use to see how mental health problems can start and maintain themselves, then plan what you can do together to manage/resolve them.
Formulating like this is a very powerful component of CBT, and help clients and therapists navigate around difficulties, develop strategies, and explicitly involve clients in choices about their mental health.
What is CBT less useful for?
There is a less clear place for the use of CBT in the more difficult protracted relationship difficulties, in which psychodynamic therapy can excel, but with a more skilled practitioner, especially using effective Schema-Based Psychotherapy , CBT can be very useful for more ‘deep seated’ problems.
Talking Therapies offers proven CBT in Brighton and works in partnership with CBT Brighton.com and CBT Hove. We will be developing the service to offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Supervision in Hove, Brighton and over Sussex, Surrey and Kent as well as London; do contact us.