
08/05/2025
CBT 🌀
I wouldn't call myself a CBT practitioner - Do I find the model helpful? Certainly!
CBT offers structured techniques and tools to stabilise people's distress and helps them cope with those difficult situations that (often) brought them to therapy.
We all try to move from a sense of danger to feeling safe - what is your cycle?
Many people rely on 'top down' strategies when exploring this feeling of danger in therapy - they might find it easier to disconnect from the emotional implications and unwanted feelings but can attempt to make logical sense of them.
(If you have seen my post on Psychodynamic Therapy, this would relate to ''The Conscious Mind').
A Brief Example: 🛫🛄
Travelling by plane elicits anxiety that I experience as breathlessness and nausea in my body, it makes me feel out of control - I fend against this by arriving at check-in increasingly early. Having moved my own departure time, shifts the onset of anxiety forward, this impacts the expectations towards my partner, who just doesn't relate to my experience. I am frustrated, experience ruminating thoughts and anger in my body. To avoid conflict I do not address my feeling of abandonment and travel to the airport ahead of them.
In my work, integrating CBT as a foundation often helps my clients to cope more effectively and creates the psychological space needed for deeper relational work.
For some clients that are looking for short-term interventions and have particular goals in mind, CBT provides a brilliant structure, creates room for exposure, and challenges the client to actively observe change.
⚠️ Please note these are brief excerpts of theory. If you are interested in learning more, please visit:
https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-therapy/types-of-therapy/cognitive-behavioural-therapy/