Individual therapy

The first thing we do is to find out what has brought the person to therapy.

What is happening with them and how long has this been going on.

Usually, this would simply involve asking about what are their current problems and how are they coping. And what would they like the outcome from therapy to be - their goals.

How they currently live with their problems may range from assessing how well they sleep, how do they recognise when they are anxious or in a low mood to what thoughts go through their heads when they are in difficult situations. There may be patterns of unhelpful thinking and unhelpful behaviour. We aim to identify these. We build up a formulation, usually building a diagram to show how the problems keep persisting.

With the client's help, we identify also what they want to do about these and what goals do they have from therapy.

We then address these unhelpful thinking and behavioural habits and reduce them, and at the same time replacing them with helpful ones.

The client may be given tasks to complete like writing down their thoughts and behaviour. And also to practice new techniques that may help them.

In general, the client may have been putting lots of time and effort into their old techniques which have in effect kept them stuck in negative loops. We draw their attention to these loops and substitute much better techniques for dealing with their problems.

Anxiety and low mood

Anxiety can manifest in feelings of fear, dread, and uneasiness, accompanied by sweatiness, restlessness, tension, and rapid heartbeat.

While anxiety is a normal reaction to stress, people who suffer from chronic and severe anxiety may find the physical and mental symptoms overwhelming to the extent that they can't manage their life day-to-day.

Some common conditions treated with CBT:

Social anxiety/phobia- an overwhelming fear of social situations. Where the person can become overwhelmed by anxiety in social situations.

Panic attacks - where you regularly have sudden attacks of panic or fear. These can appear to come out of the blue and can severely lead to avoidance and isolation.

Generalised Anxiety (worry) - the person may often worry excessively about many things. This leads to a general exhaustion and avoidance of new experiences.

Depression/low mood - the person can become inactive and isolate themselves, give up rewarding activities, and generally have a pessimistic view of themselves and their future. They may also overthink, dwell or ruminate.

Post -traumatic disorder - after a trauma, a person may still experience feelings and thoughts long after the event. The trauma has become stuck and needs to be processed in therapy.

Low self-esteem - people may have a low opinion of themselves and feel worthless. They can criticise themselves and undermine their self-confidence.

Common problems

Have any questions?

If you have any questions about the therapy, feel free to contact me.