
Our new Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) videos help overcome negative thinking
Change Your Thinking offers online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, a type of psychotherapy, through a range of video modules and worksheets produced by PAM experts to help people improve how they feel and behave.
CBT aims to help people manage their problems by changing their unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviour. It is most successful in treating anxiety disorders and depression but can be helpful for other mental health problems too.
CBT helps you understand how your thoughts affect your feelings and behaviour. It also teaches you how to replace dysfunctional thinking patterns and behaviour with more positive ones.
What is the Basis of CBT?
Cognitive Methods of CBT
Cognitive-behavioural therapy comprises different techniques many of which focus on irrational thinking patterns. These cognitive techniques help the person gain a sense of control over their anxiety.
One of the central problems of anxiety are negative automatic thoughts. These unhelpful thoughts increase uneasiness and reduce the person’s ability to manage anxiety. Negative automatic thoughts are hard to control, as they arise instantly when a person thinks about the anxiety-provoking situation. This happens because the brain has become hardwired to think negatively. One of the goals of CBT is to train the brain to think in a new way; to identify and replace negative automatic thoughts with more realistic ones.
Over time, a determined practice changes the neural pathways in the brain until replacing negative thoughts with positive ones becomes automatic and a person begins to think, feel, and behave differently.
Behavioural Methods of CBT
The most commonly used behavioural technique in CBT treatment is systematic desensitisation or exposure training. This method has been successfully used in treating phobias. It involves gradually exposing a person to fear-provoking situations until these situations cause less fear and anxiety. However, exposure to the situations whether it’s in real-world situations or in vivo needs to be a gradual process, non-harming to a patient.
What Can CBT Treat?
Cognitive-behavioural therapy is a time and a goal-oriented approach to problem-solving. This psychotherapy has proven to be a particularly effective treatment for anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, and depression. However, CBT can also be a helpful treatment for other mental health problems, such as:
- bipolar disorder
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- borderline personality disorder (BPD)
- obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- eating disorders, such as bulimia and anorexia
- psychosis
- schizophrenia
- sleep problems
- substance use problems
- anger issues
- relationship and intimacy issues
Furthermore, CBT can teach you helpful ways to manage some long-term physical health problems such as chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, or chronic fatigue.
How Does CBT Work?
CBT Therapy Sessions
CBT sessions can be delivered in various forms. PAM Assist provide CBT in various formats including an Online CBT course, Telephone CBT, CBT sessions via Zoom as well as Face too Face sessions. Access to CBT and it’s different formats is dependent on our agreed service with your employer.
Throughout the CBT sessions, the therapist will help you to identify your problems and look at them piece by piece, i.e. to break them down into their parts such as your thoughts, emotions, physical feelings, and actions. You and your CBT therapist will then analyse these components to identify the dysfunctional ones and the effect they have on your well-being.
After analysing your unhelpful or unrealistic thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, your therapist will help you find a strategy to modify them. Also, he or she will give you “homework” and ask you to practice these changes in your day-to-day life. This is the final aim of CBT – to teach you to apply the new coping skills into your everyday life.
The Benefits of CBT
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