Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that looks at your thoughts, feelings and behaviours and helps to change some of these to manage your problems.

A key part of this is identifying the negative thinking patterns that you may feel trapped in, helping you to break free from these and to feel better.

CBT focuses on equipping you with the tools to address current problems in your life and relieve the symptoms you’re facing, before making links to your past and how your beliefs started.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which provides guidance for the treatment of mental ill health in the NHS, recommends CBT for anxiety, depression, panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), health anxiety and schizophrenia. Some therapists who undergo extra training are able to use it with their clients as an early intervention for psychosis and a treatment for personality disorders.

There are also CBT interventions for people who are struggling with anger issues, sleep problems, chronic fatigue and other long-term health conditions, such as diabetes, chronic pain and cancer.

(BACP)