December 2006
CBT is an evidence based therapy. It helps the client and therapist focus on the connections between thoughts, feelings, behaviour and physiological changes in the body.
Both embark together on a journey of investigation and discovery of typical patterns and reactions, which may underlie and maintain the problems the person wants to deal with.
This investigation is carried out with the aid of diaries to record patterns and through collaboration between client and therapist in discussing and making sense of these, both agree to keep an open mind and respond to the evidence.
The patterns are considered to be the result of past learning about the nature of the world, the self and the others, based on experiences growing up as well as on neurological features the person may have been born with or which may also have been shaped by experience.
The therapist shares what is known about the nature of the brain and behaviour and what techniques work to change patterns. The client shares his or her inner experience and knowledge of repeated patterns and problems in their own life.
In order to achieve change, the therapist and client may carry out behavioural experiments, trying out new ways of behaving and seeing whether predictions come true. The client will be educated about the nature of emotions and typical cognitive errors such as overgeneralising and catastrophising, so that s/he can become adept at spotting these and correcting them t o produce more realistic appraisals of situations.
Because patterns do repeat, these can get in the way of the relationship between client and therapist (for example, if a client has learnt not to trust other people). This needs to be dealt with in the therapy too, by namng the processes and working together to overcome the obstacles they present.
Specific goals are agreed between therapist and client, with a specific timescale for their achievement, so that progress can be reviewed by each side of the partnership.
This therapy is collaborative and not mystifying for the client and is continually being refined and researched.