22/11/2024
What to expect
You may have imagined that therapy involves lying on a couch in a clinical white room with motivational quotes hanging on the wall. CBT is not like that... It's about face-to-face sessions where you’ll be sitting in a private room, on a comfy chair, with your Practitioner sitting or standing at a whiteboard, used for visual aids. Each CBT session, whether remote or face-to-face, lasts around 45 minutes.
Agenda
Assessment
The assessment will help us determine a list of what the ensuing 6 CBT Sessions will cover so you can get the most from every session.
Your Assessment session agenda will look something like this:
About CBT: An explanation from your Practitioner about the CBT Model and you’ll be able to ask lots of questions
About you: This is where you describe the issues you are trying to deal with. Don’t panic, your Practitioner will guide you. A good way to think about explaining it is: “I’m feeling different, e.g. sad, depressed, and low; I’m behaving differently, e.g. I don’t exercise anymore, I don’t phone my friends and I’m drinking more alcohol; I feel physically different, e.g. I’m not sleeping, my appetite has gone and I keep feeling shaky; and my thinking has changed, e.g. I keep thinking nothing will change and that I’m a failure”. You may also complete a short questionnaire to rate your mood. Many Practitioners repeat this at the beginning of every session to check the sessions are helping you
Describing your problems using the CBT model: You and your Practitioner will start to look at how your problems might fit with the idea of vicious cycles
Goal setting: An important part of the first few sessions. Step 3 helps you develop an understanding of where you are now, while goal setting gives you a vision of where you want to be, what you want to achieve, and ultimately how you will know that therapy has been effective. For example, if you’re feeling anxious, stressed, or low, your goal may be becoming happier or less anxious. Your Practitioner is trained to help you explore what ‘happier’ or ‘less anxious’ looks like. You’ll also set short-term and long-term goals that are important to you. A short-term goal could be taking a shower and a long-term goal could be returning to work after a long absence
Discussing coping techniques: Once your Practitioner has a clearer idea of who you are, where you are and where you want to be, they’ll begin to equip you with practical tools to help you manage your mental health. This might include teaching you new ways to challenge unhelpful thinking, mindfulness-based techniques, or breathing and relaxation techniques.
CBT Sessions:
Following your Assessment, we will formulate a therapy approach to utilize during the following CBT Sessions which will focus on the the problems you are trying to deal with.
Homework
At the end, your Practitioner will set some tasks to complete before the next session. This might include keeping a diary of your thoughts, feelings and behaviours, practicing a breathing technique, or trying a new experience.
CBT is very practical in nature – so it’s important that you start to integrate your new skills into your day-to-day life. That’s one of the great benefits of starting a course of CBT – the effects aren’t just confined to the session, they impact on your life between sessions. So practicing CBT techniques outside of your sessions will really help you to make the most of your treatment.
