Involves teaching the client how to think differently and, crucially, how to regain perspective.

The word 'perspective' is indeed one of the most important words of all. Time honoured, parentally imprinted or personally initiated distortions in thinking patterns can and do cause painful and dysfunctional attitudes and practices to occur.

In experiencing a distorted picture of what's happening in your life, this can and does lead all too easily to anxiety, irritability, anger and depression for no good reason. As you can imagine, the next step of allowing ill-chosen decision-making is all too easy to follow.

Through agreed strategy, planning and practice, behaviour therapy helps you to weaken the connections between those worrying, troublesome or even overwhelming situations and your habitual reactions to them.

People often know how they should think and act, but over-familiarity with the traditional knee jerk response freezes the opportunity for release and positive change. Behaviour therapy can counter feelings such as fear, depression or rage, with the associated elements of self-defeating and self-damaging behaviour.

This element also teaches you how to calm your mind and body, so you can not only feel better, of course, but think more clearly and then make better decisions.

When both these therapies combine into CBT, they provide you with very powerful and permanent tools for stopping the negative symptoms and practices, enabling a return to life on the most satisfying track.

CBT FAQs