Is CBT right for you? There is extensive evidence on the efficacy of CBT with well-known psychological problems such as anxiety and depression (see the NICE website) but it can also be applied to a wider range of problems such as relationship difficulties, stress at work and family problems. Having seen thousands of clients during my career, I have encountered most type of psychological problems so it is always worth asking whether I have had experience of working with any problem you may have. CBT probably works best with people who want to develop new strategies for dealing with problems. Whilst the client’s history often comes into this, CBT is less likely to spend a lot of time talking about childhood issues – so if may be worth considering other options if this is your main area of concern. It is also worth saying that CBT therapists often ask clients to do ‘homework’ (follow-up activities between sessions). If you think that you would not want to do that, it may mean that CBT would work more slowly for you.
How could CBT help you? As indicated earlier, CBT often includes helping you to think in a way more likely to coincide with your goals and by learning to behave in more proactive ways – for example some are helped by learning to think and act in more assertive ways. It is sometimes said that CBT does not work with emotions. Whilst this may have been true of some early versions of CBT, most current CBT therapists work on helping clients to recognise and use their emotions in positive ways and this cannot be done if emotions are undervalued.
Methods of CBT depend on developing collaboration between clients and therapists. Whilst therapists do sometimes challenge clients, they more often help them to reflect on and develop their own way of doing things so that it works better for them. Clients are regularly consulted about how therapy is working for them and they are given the right to say when the therapy should best end.
What are the practicalities? My fee is £75 per one-hour session. It is probably sensible to think that we are likely to meet around 10-12 times, though as I said earlier, sometimes this is less and sometimes more. It can take up to 6 sessions until some of the benefits are experienced by some people so again it makes sense to commit in yourself to having at least 6 sessions – you will usually know by then what more you may or may not need. Because of this it can be helpful to pay for 6 sessions as an initial block but this is not necessary and you may just pay session by session. Payment can be made by cheque, cash or by bank transfer. Receipts can be supplied on request. I usually try to keep to meeting on the same day and time for each appointment but it should also be recognised that some flexibility may be required on both sides at times.
What next? It is usually a good idea to check out several different sources of therapy and help and several different therapists. I am happy to discuss things on the telephone at any time when I am available. I am also happy to undertake an initial assessment sessions without further commitment on your behalf. At this session, I will try to understand your problem and try to suggest some of the ways that CBT could help with your problem. I would then leave you to decide if you would like to undertake CBT with me.