Within CBT, David Bonner will take an active part in helping you to solve your problems.

Whilst listening and giving time and space for consideration and reflection is of course essential, unlike say psycho-analysis, the therapist doesn't settle for an occasional wise nod of the head, only then to leave you to carry the whole burden of finding the answers that led you to seek therapy in the first place.

You will engage in a thorough diagnostic process from the start, so that even at the end of the first session you will leave knowing where you should be heading and thereby not feeling so rootless, confused, alone………

This crucial step, often omitted by default or design in traditional forms of therapy, results in an explicit, understandable, yet flexible treatment plan that accurately reflects your individual needs.

CBT is not unlike coaching or tutoring in that, with skilled guidance, you as a CBT client will share in setting treatment goals and in deciding the pace and form of those techniques which are best suited to you.

It is usual for some form of "homework" to be involved, not of the onerous variety, but of an interesting and relevant form, so as to investigate, stimulate, engage and speed up progress overall.

Focusing on the past (and on dreams) can at times help explain a person's difficulties and is overlooked at one's peril. However, these activities all too often do little to help people actually overcome them permanently.

Instead with CBT, David Bonner will aim to create rapid improvement in feelings and moods, and changes also in self-defeating behaviour that may well be existent.

CBT has gained its premier status through focusing successfully on present-centred and forward thinking approaches.

The Levers of Change

The two most powerful levers of constructive and permanent change (apart from medication in some areas) are these:

• Altering ways of thinking - a person's thoughts, beliefs, ideas, attitudes, prejudices, assumptions, mental imagery, and ways of directing his or her attention - for the better.
  This is the cognitive aspect of CBT.
• Helping a person meet the challenges and opportunities in his or her life with a clear and calm mind - and then taking actions that are likely to have those desirable results.
  This is the behavioural aspect of CBT.

CBT has been very thoroughly researched, not only in the USA, but in Britain, Europe and the rest of the world.

In particular, CBT has been shown to be better than drugs in avoiding treatment failures and in preventing relapse and the end of treatment. If you are concerned about your ability to complete treatment and maintain those gains thereafter, please keep this proven research in mind.

What about drug treatment

David Bonner regularly sees and hears from those needing advice and reassurance in respect of the use of CBT and its combination with prescribed drugs.

Clients will ask if it is right to seek or take drugs that have been suggested (or indeed insisted upon) by doctors. It must be made clear that responsibility for judging the patients needs rests with the GP/hospital. However, the following may be useful.

CBT is usually, but by no means exclusively, employed by itself without psychiatric drugs. For some people, however, drugs are essential and for a proportion, may need to be continued indefinitely.

For others, the majority in David Bonner's experience, short-term drug treatment is needed to obtain a partial reduction in symptoms before CBT can be fully effective.

Most CBT clients are able to complete treatment in just a few weeks or months - even for problems that traditional therapies often take years to resolve, or frequently don't resolve at all.

For those small minority of clients with multi-faceted or extremely complex problems, or for those forced to live or exist in adverse conditions, mutually agreed longer term treatment is also available.

How often will I be seen

It is essential to develop quickly a genuine momentum to treatment. Whilst perhaps obvious, the answer here depends on individual needs.

As a rule, most people can expect weekly appointments to begin with; later when that momentum is unlikely to be lost, it is often the case that more time between sessions can be agreed.

David Bonner lives in the real world and is sensitive to the issues of time and money. though personal well-being is generally accepted as being paramount.