What is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy?
Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological therapy that helps you to recognise unhelpful thinking or negative thought patterns.
It looks at how your thoughts influence your feelings and behaviours and how this can become a vicious cycle of negative thinking.
CBT is delivered for only a short term, with between 12-20 sessions per treatment. There is a homework element to CBT, where you will put into practice what has been discussed in your therapy session. There is a lot of learning gained from your homework, so it will be an expectation for you to carry it out to meet your goals.
CBT for Generalised Anxiety Disorder
The Cognitive and Behavioural Approach to Generalised Anxiety Disorder or also known as GAD, looks at how influential your thoughts are on your feelings and behaviours. Worries can come in different forms and types, and a big part of CBT is having awareness of your worry and what the primary role of your worry means to you. Your treatment plan may include psychoeducation about worry and anxiety; problem solving training, building tolerance to uncertainty; reducing cognitive avoidance and restructuring; imaginal and behaviour exposure; exploration of your beliefs about worry and how useful it is; mindfulness and relaxation and relapse prevention plan to maintain your changes. Group therapy is the bringing together of a small group of people with similar issues, who can support each other and work together on their problems. This is beneficial as it can give you different perspectives and help to widen your cognitive flexibility.
Types of worries:
Problem worries
Problem worries: are often about a current situation that you can do something about. For example this can include things like’ “I don’t have enough time to complete my work”, ”I have a toothache” or “I need to book leave for my holiday”. It is quite normal when we are feeling anxious or overwhelmed not to act on our worries and to start putting things off. However, this often leads to our worries piling up and we can become overwhelmed and then being stuck in a vicious cycle.
Hypothetical worries
Hypothetical worries are often about the future and what might happen. These worries are about things that we do not currently have control over and therefore cannot do anything about. Hypothetical worries often come in the form of a “what if”, for example: “What if my car breaks down?”; “What if the train is late?” or “What if my dad gets lost on the way home?”. These worries are essentially a form of scenario building, but they can be very overwhelming and can lead us to worrying about worry.
What is Generalised Anxiety Disorder?
CBT Therapy Sessions and Fees
Terms & Conditions
I operate a 24 hour cancellation policy, to give me enough notice to offer the session to another person in need.
Should sessions not be attended or cancelled within the 24 hour notice period, then the session will be chargeable.
I currently do not accept referrals on insurance.
If reports, or letters regarding treatment are required for third parties, please contact to discuss requirements and the additional charge.
Saturday appointments are available on request, however these will have an additional £10 charge.
Assessment
CBT Assessment & Formulation
90 minutes - £85
Prior to meeting on Zoom or Teams for your CBT Assessment, we will carry out a brief consultation via text or email. Your Assessment will be your first session, where we will develop a formulation of your problem and how it fits in with CBT. We will also discuss your goals and expectations of therapy. This first session is an assessment session, where no treatment will be given. This will give you the opportunity to discuss the difficulties you are facing at the moment, for us to develop a formulation around your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours in a CBT approach. We can also discuss some goals that you would like to achieve for the duration of your treatment, this enables the treatment to be structured, tailored to your goals and also time limited.
Get in touch
Contact me by email or send me a message via the enquiry form to arrange a free consultation!
