Cognitive Therapy

There is a difference between feeling better and getting better. Feeling better can occur spontaneously and can happen sporadically one moment to the next. Getting better is an empowering sense of control. Through successful Cognitive Therapy you will understand and recognise that your learned way of thinking negatively, is the root of your suffering, sadness or anxiety.

Cognitive Therapy (CT) is a modern approach to therapy which empowers you to modify your own mood through specific cognitive and behavioural techniques. It is a practical method based on common sense therapy. In as little as twelve weeks you will feel confident in how to effectively use coping strategies that will make you feel better whenever you feel anxious, afraid or upset. CT educates the client in the nature of emotions and how to distinguish between “normal” and “abnormal” feelings. This provides you a clear understanding of how and why your moods change giving you the confidence to recognise and prevent future relapses. Extensive research has shown that CT is just as effective for treating symptoms as patients who receive medication and antidepressants.

Cognitive Therapy is based upon three essential principles.

1. Our emotions are created by our thoughts, perceptions and beliefs.

Yes, that’s right. ALL our feelings and moods are based upon our thinking at the time. This explains how at the time of an event you feel one thing, but later on you find those feelings have changed or subsided. Or how two people can can respond in totally different ways to the same situation. However you are feeling right now, is because of the thoughts you are thinking in this moment. Perhaps you are here, reading this feeling depressed or hopeless, anxious and, afraid. Let me tell you, that this is all your thinking and these things you feel right now CAN be changed.

2. When you feel depressed, your thoughts are dominated by pervasive negativity

I often work with clients who tell me that they can’t remember a time when they didn’t feel sad. This is because when you feel sad or blue, you see things through negativity lenses. And this extends to not just thoughts about themselves but to everyone and everything they encounter.

3. Negative thoughts that cause you emotional turmoil, nearly always contain Cognitive Distortions

This is possibly one of the most important therapeutic interventions anyone can learn. In fact, I am a firm believer that this should be taught to children at school, because once mastered you gain complete and total control over the way you feel. Research into emotional distress has concluded that the negative thoughts that cause the pain most likely contain some for of distortion. Even though a thought can feel so true and justify your suffering, more often than not, it will be illogical, irrational or one sided.