Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

CBT may sound like a vocational college course, but Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is actually a psychological treatment, a 'talking therapy', which can be used to treat a number of conditions such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, substance misuse and phobias

As many as one in three people will experience depression in their lifetime, but this doesn't necessarily translate as a prozac prescription. A recent report by The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) said that CBT, amongst other therapies, is known to be very successful in treating people's mental ill health.

'Psychological therapies such as CBT are known to be effective for many people. They can help people with a range of mental health problems to find their own ways of recovering and getting back their lives,' says Andy Bell, Director of Public Affairs at The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, one of five charities responsible for commissioning the MHF report.

But how does CBT work? By helping you change how you think (cognitive) and what you do (behaviour). The Royal College of Psychiatrists say: 'These changes can help you to feel better. Unlike some of the other talking treatments, it concentrates on the 'here and now' problems and difficulties. Instead of focusing on the causes of your distress or symptoms in the past, CBT looks for ways to improve your state of mind now.'

So it is very different from a therapy like person-centred counselling, where you would explore the past to resolve issues. With CBT, an overwhelming problem or difficult situation is broken down into its parts: the thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions connected to it. Breaking down situations into component parts helps the client work out alternative behaviours or coping mechanisms to the triggers.

Dolly Sen, 35, from London, engaged in around 20 sessions of CBT and discovered it was the key to treating her psychotic depression. 'With CBT, I could see how I made the depression happen by thinking certain thoughts. I learnt how to replace negative thoughts with positive ones to stop my thinking following an unhelpful route. It has changed my life for the better.'