Therapy Articles | Welford Solicitors

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Explained

Posted on December 17, 2021 by admin

Tags – What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapeutic treatment which helps patients learn how to identify negative thought patterns and change them into positive behaviours and emotions.

As such, CBT focuses on changing negative thoughts that occur as an automatic response to certain situations that contribute to, and worsen, mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

So, through CBT, thoughts are identified and challenged, then replaced with more positive, more realistic thoughts.

That said, let’s take a look at the different types of CBT, the techniques used and what mental health disorders it can help with.

Types of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

CBT includes a whole range of different approaches to address thought patterns, emotions and behaviours.

And these can range from more structured psychotherapies to self-help, at home materials.

1. Cognitive Therapy

This centres around identifying and changing distorted thinking patterns, emotional responses and behaviours.

2. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

This addresses negative thoughts and behaviours but incorporates strategies like mindfulness and emotional regulation.

3. Multimodal Therapy

This suggests mental health issues need to be treated by addressing 7 interconnected modalities: behaviour, affect, sensation, imagery, cognition, interpersonal factors and drug considerations.

4. Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)

This involves identifying irrational thoughts, challenging these and then learning how to recognise and change them.

Overall, even though each type of these therapies above take a different approach, they all work to address the underlying thought patterns that contribute to your mental wellbeing.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Techniques

Due to the fact that CBT is about identifying negative thought patterns, there are a wide range of techniques and strategies used to help people overcome these.

For example, these could include writing in a journal, role-playing, techniques to learn how to relax and mental distractions.

1. Identifying Negative Thoughts

The main reason why it’s important to identify negative thoughts and feelings is to understand how it affects mood and behaviour.

And whilst this process can be difficult for some, it can help to lead to self-discovery and insights which is an essential part of your recovery.

2. Practicing New Skills

At the same time, it’s important to practice new skills that your therapist suggests as these can then be applied to real life settings.

For instance, if a patient has a problem with drug abuse, they can practice coping skills to deal with social situations that could trigger a relapse.

3. Setting Goals

Setting goals is crucial when it comes to your recovery and helping you to make positive life changes to improve your mental wellbeing.

During your sessions, your therapist can help you to set goals by teaching you how to identify a goal, understand the difference between long and short term goals, and set SMART goals to help you stay focused on the end outcome.

4. Problem Solving

Learning how to solve problems that arise from life stressors will help to reduce the negative impact these have on your mental state.

In CBT, there are 5 steps to problem solving:

Identifying the problem
Creating a list of solutions
Weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of each solution
Choosing the solution
Implementing the solution

5. Self-monitoring

Sometimes referred to as diary work, self-monitoring works to track your behaviours, symptoms and experiences over time, and then sharing these with your therapist at your next session.

By doing so, this provides extra information to your therapist so they can provide the best treatment for you.

For instance, if a patient is suffering from an eating disorder, self-monitoring can include keeping a track of everything they’ve consumed and how they felt at that time.

What Mental Health Disorders Can CBT Help With?

CBT can be used as a short term treatment to help people focus on present thoughts and beliefs, rather than looking at the past.

And, it is used to treat a whole range of mental health disorders, which include:

Addiction
Anger management
Anxiety
Bipolar disorder
Depression
Eating disorders
Panic attacks
Personality disorders
Phobias

On the other hand, CBT can also help people cope with:

Chronic pain
Divorce and breakups
Grief
Insomnia
Stress management

Final Considerations

Ultimately, the goal of CBT is to teach people that they cannot control everything around them, but they can control how they cope with things in their environment.

Beneficially, this helps the patient to engage in healthier thought processes by being aware of the negative, and often unrealistic, thoughts that affect mental state.

Generally, CBT is seen as a short-term treatment, and usually, improvements are seen after 5 – 20 sessions.

Plus, if you don’t feel comfortable seeing a therapist in person, it has still been found to be effective through online sessions too.

Overall, CBT provides patients with coping skills that can be useful in the present as well as applying them in the future.

Please get in touch today for more information.

Check our Court of Protection solicitors in the meantime.

You may also like:

5 Effective Types of Therapy

Posted on December 7, 2021 by admin

Tags – Effective Types of Therapy

When it comes to therapy, there is not a one-size-fits-all option.

And that’s because we are all unique and have different needs.

At times, it may seem impossible to differentiate between the different types of therapy available, and it’s true that there are certain practices that are standard.

For instance, you can expect to sit across from a therapist, who will ask you direct questions in order to get to the root of your problem.

Then, instead of letting you try and figure out solutions on your own, your therapist can make suggestions to give you new ways to think about things and help change your behaviour to make you feel more in control.

Ultimately, therapy is a collaborative process between you and your therapist, but it’s your decision to choose the type of therapy you wish to do which will make a difference in your experience.

Plus, you need to be 100% comfortable in the presence of your therapist to make the most out of your sessions, otherwise they will not be effective.

As a general rule of thumb, you should ask your potential therapist whether they have experience in treating your specific problem before you book your first session.

Keep in mind that even though you may have found them through personal referral, it doesn’t mean they will be right for you.

So, be prepared that finding the right therapist and type of therapy can involve some trial and error.

That said, to help you with your search, here’s a brief explanation of 5 effective types of therapy, including the mental health problems they’re most useful for.

1. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a talking therapy that works to manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave, and is most commonly used for those suffering from anxiety and depression.

Briefly speaking, CBT is based on the idea that your thoughts, feelings and actions are connected, and that negative thoughts can trap you in a vicious cycle.

So, CBT aims to help you deal with situations that overwhelm you in a more positive way by breaking it down into smaller parts.

Here, your therapist will work with you to find practical ways to improve your state of mind, and look at dealing with your current problems, rather than looking at issues from your past.

And, your therapist will analyse your thoughts to figure out whether they’re unrealistic or unhelpful and determine the effect that they have on you.

Typically, you will have a session once a week or once every two weeks and the treatment will last between 5 – 20 sessions.

2. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT is an action-oriented approach to psychotherapy and is effective at treating persistent anxiety.

So, it’s a form of cognitive behavioural therapy that teaches you how to live with anxiety without letting it control you.

Here, you will learn to stop avoiding, denying, and struggling with your inner emotions and instead, accept that these feelings are responses to certain situations, which should not stop you from living your normal life.

With this understanding, you should hopefully be able to accept your hardships and make a commitment to make the necessary changes needed, regardless of what is happening in your life and how you feel about it.

In these sessions, you will learn how to listen to your own self-talk, then decide whether a particular issue needs action or whether you should accept it for what it is.

Then, you can try to stop fighting your past and emotions, and practice more confident and optimistic behaviour based on your own personal values and goals.

3. Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)

DBT is usually recommended to those suffering with more severe problems, such as addiction or suicidal thoughts.

To put it simply, DBT is a type of cognitive behavioural therapy, which tries to identify and change negative thinking patterns to transform them into positive, by teaching patients skills to cope with unhealthy behaviours.

Furthermore, the term dialectical comes from the idea of bringing together two opposites in therapy: acceptance and change, which can bring better results than just one alone.

And, the way it’s different to other forms of therapy is that it focuses on accepting your experience, gaining reassurance from your therapist and then working to change negative thoughts.

4. Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is both a therapy and a theory, and is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety.

In therapy, this is the one you can probably picture in your mind, where you’re asked to lay down on a couch, relax and then your therapist will stand behind you taking notes while you speak about your childhood memories and dreams.

However, because of the natural defense mechanisms operating in the unconscious mind, psychoanalysis is a lengthy process and can involve a few sessions per week for a few years.

Generally, a psychoanalyst (the therapist), will use a variety of techniques to encourage you to develop insights into your behaviour, such as:

Dream interpretation: according to Freud, dream analysis is the most important psychoanalytic technique and is often referred to as the “royal road to the unconscious”.
Free association: an exercise where you’re encouraged to freely share your thoughts, which could bring up unexpected memories
Transference: where you will project your feelings about another person onto the therapist, and talk to them as if they were that person.

5. Art Therapy

Art therapy is effective at working through a number of mental health issues, from depression to PTSD, through the application of visual art.

Essentially, art therapy is an integrative type of therapy that involves managing symptoms of a variety of mental health disorders through active art-making, creative process and applied psychological theory.

For example, activities include colouring, painting or sculpting, where you are able to express yourself through art, and then your therapist will examine both the psychological and emotional undertones from that.

Positively, art therapy benefits both adults and children and is usually recommended to improve cognitive functions, boost self-esteem and self-awareness, give an insight into behaviour and enhance social skills.

The Takeaway

Hopefully, this has given you an insight into the most common types of effective therapy to help you choose the right one for you.

All in all, you won’t really know until you try, and if after a couple of sessions you don’t feel comfortable, there’s nothing stopping you from moving on to a different therapist or a different type of therapy altogether.

Please get in touch today if you’d like to know more.

In the meantime, take a look at our Court of Protection Solicitors here.

You may also like:

5 Questions You Must Ask Your Therapist

Posted on November 22, 2021 by admin

Tags – Questions to ask your therapist

So you’ve decided: it’s time for therapy, but finding the right therapist for you can be quite the challenge.

After all, you want a place where you can sit with a trained professional and talk about whatever is on your mind and receive the right help and advice.

At the end of the day, therapy is a collaborative process, and the more you feel invested into it, the better opportunity you have to grow.

But, to make the most out of your therapy sessions, there are a few questions you should ask before choosing a therapist.

And, you shouldn’t feel uncomfortable asking questions or expressing your needs either, as therapy is about what you want to do as much as it is about your therapist’s treatment plan.

With that in mind, here are 5 questions you must ask your therapist before starting your treatment.

1. What Training Did You Do?

Therapists and psychologists across the UK will have spent a minimum of three years in training, but usually many will have trained for longer.

A reputable therapist will be registered with a professional membership body, which indicates they practice ethical and professional standards.

In the UK, a counselor does not have to be registered with a professional body, however it does act as a layer of protection for you both. For instance, if you needed to raise a complaint about your therapist, you would contact the regulatory board.

2. Have You Ever Been in Therapy?

It’s important for a therapist to spend some time in their own therapy, even if it’s not required, as this enables them to know what it feels like to be on the other chair.

Generally speaking, this is seen as good practice in therapy and helps them to understand clients’ experiences without projecting their own life experiences.

However, even though asking your therapist whether they’ve had therapy is a valid question, don’t expect to find out any personal or specific information about their experience; a good therapist will set firm boundaries and will not overshare.

3. What is Your Approach?

Before you dive into your sessions, you’ll want to know how your therapist can help you and what their general approach is.

By asking this, you will learn more about their area of expertise, what specific treatment plans they use, as well as what their therapy style and background is like. And, this will help you gauge who they are and decide whether their methods will be a good fit for you.

For example, cognitive behavioural therapy is more focused on immediate issues and looks at relearning behaviours and thought patterns. Treatment for this usually involves learning tools and being given “homework” to practice out in the real world.

On the other hand, psychodynamic therapy looks at the root causes of the issue you’re faced with and focuses on creating a change by looking deeply inwards.

All in all, you will only benefit from therapy if you feel comfortable with the therapist’s style, don’t be scared to ask this question.

4. How Many Sessions Will I Need?

Depending on the style of therapy you choose, the answer will not always be straightforward.

However, your therapist should be able to provide you with a rough idea of how many sessions you may need and suggest a good starting point.

For instance, your therapist may say, “We’ll look at starting with 12 sessions to begin with, and then check-in to see how you’re doing”.

Despite their best intentions, not every therapist will be right for you, and a good therapist should speak if they believe you’re in a place where you’re no longer making progress or if you would be better seeking alternative treatment.

Simply put, a good and reputable therapist will be just as set on getting you better as you are, so be wary of anyone who is hesitant about giving you a rough idea of what kind of timeframe you’ll be looking at.

5. How Should I Prepare For Sessions?

Therapy requires you to put in work both during the session and once you leave.

For example, in cognitive behavioural therapy, you may be tasked to complete worksheets outside of the session.

Similarly, in an insight-oriented approach, your therapist may ask you to simply bring awareness to your emotions and recognise stressful situations, as well as note down any relevant thoughts that crop up in that time.

As such, asking how you should prepare for sessions will give you a better idea of what your therapist expects from you when you walk away.

And, if you feel like these expectations are unreasonable, or will cause you more stress, you can voice this to your therapist as they may be able to suggest alternative methods.

Furthermore, asking this question will also help you understand how to make the most of your therapy and therefore make it more likely to be successful.

Closing Thoughts

Being prepared with the right questions allows you to learn more about your therapist and what they can offer you.

But whilst finding out about their training and expertise helps you make a decision, it’s important you focus on how they make you feel too.

Overall, a good therapist will feel like a partnership, so you need to feel understood, comfortable and have your best interests at heart.

Want to know more? Get in touch today.

In the meantime, check our Court of Protection Solicitors services.

You may also like:

How to Find a Therapist That’s Right For You?

Posted on October 21, 2021 by admin

Tags – Tips on Finding a Therapist

Admitting and accepting life’s issues is one of the hardest things someone can do.

But once you have made the decision to reach out and seek therapy, you’ll want to find someone you can connect with, someone you can understand who you are and more importantly, someone you can trust with your innermost feelings and thoughts.

So, finding a therapist should not be a rushed decision to take lightly. It should take time and effort otherwise you may not make any progress.

A good therapist will help you develop skills and confidence to cope with mental health for the rest of your life.

With that said, here are 4 tips for finding a therapist that’s right for you.

1. Search a Directory

Once you have chosen your therapy type, you’ll want to find a UKCP therapist, so you feel confident they are fully qualified, follow good practice and hold ethical conduct.

With thousands of therapists available all over the UK, you can search by location, if you’d like face-to-face meetings or online sessions and the issue you’d like to work on.

When looking through the directory, ask yourself:

Do you want to see a therapist who specialises in your particular issue or are you open to any?
Where do you want to meet your therapist? This could be near work or home, or even somewhere else.
Do you feel comfortable meeting in person or would you prefer to meet online?
Are you looking to do therapy on your own or in a group?
Do you feel comfortable talking to a man or a woman?

Nailing down the specifics will help you to find the right therapist for you to help you on your journey.

2. Get a Feeling

When you’ve narrowed a few potential therapists down, why not send them an email or give them a quick call?

By doing this, you can give a brief overview of your issue and find out quickly if they’re able to help you, (it could be they don’t specialise or have experience in working with your issue).

Remember, therapists will not be shocked or judge you and generally will be able to help with most issues. Plus you can find out here the kind of appointment times they have and if that would fit in with your lifestyle.

Moreover, this gives you a sense of what they’ll be like and if you feel you can work with them.

3. Try a First Session

There’s no harm in trying a session. This is your chance to see how you feel even being with a therapist – especially if it’s your first time.

And trying it out means you can get a sense of how they work and if you think you’ll work well together.

At first, the therapist will want to ask you questions and talk about what led you to choose therapy. Sometimes they may even fill out an assessment form, but don’t worry. This just helps them to understand if they’re the right person to help you too.

The kind of things they may ask you are:

How long the issues been going on for
Your childhood and upbringing
Relationships with loved ones and those around you
What you’ve been doing to cope
If you’ve had therapy before

Don’t forget though, this is your session and you can ask questions back too to help you decide if the therapist is for you – you are in control.

You might want to ask:

How do your sessions work?
What kind of therapy do you do?
What experience or training have you had to work with the issue I’m dealing with?
How long do you think we’ll work together for?
What happens if I miss a session?

Make the most out of your first session to really think about whether you can work with them to help you.

4. Never Settle

After your first session of therapy, you’ll want to take some time and reflect on how you felt when you walked away.

Some things to think about are:

Did you feel at ease?
Do you think you can trust them?
Would you feel comfortable talking about the most intimate details of your life?
Did you feel safe?
Did you like their tone towards you?

If you did not feel comfortable with your therapist during your first session, don’t feel bad about it.

At the end of the day, taking the step to seek help for any issue is a big step. And you need to ask a lot of questions and then decide if you do or do not want to work with them. If you don’t, it’s not your fault – many people don’t find the right therapist the first time round.

The Bottom Line

Choosing the right therapist for you can involve some trial and error.

Don’t worry if you’re not happy with how your first session goes. In fact, there are some people who try several therapists before they find someone they can truly be honest with.

Most importantly, the relationship between you and your therapist is crucial if you want the treatment to work.

So, take your time to find someone you feel you can talk to and who you feel understands and respects you and your problems.

Want to know more? Get in touch today.

Take a look at our Court of Protection solicitors services in the meantime.

You may also like: