Can Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Help Me?

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends CBT for the following disorders:

- Depression
- Chronic worry (or Generalised Anxiety Disorder)
- Panic attacks and agoraphobia
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

There is also an evidence base for CBT being effective for the following problems:

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- Low self esteem
- Sleep difficulties
- Phobias
- Health anxiety

What to Expect

CBT isn’t a quick fix. It involves hard work during and between sessions. The number of CBT sessions you need depends on the difficulty you need help with. To give you a rough idea, people often have between ten and twenty weekly sessions lasting around 50 minutes each.

CBT encourages you to become your own therapist by carrying out ‘homework’ tasks between sessions. This usually involves experimenting with altering the way you think about something and/or how you act in a certain situation.

CBT is a collaborative process. You’re the expert on how you’re feeling, and I have expertise in CBT. I won’t tell you what to do. Instead, I will help you decide what difficulties you want to work on in order to improve your situation. Working in partnership, we’ll discuss these difficulties and set goals for you to achieve. We will then work together to change your behaviours and/or thinking patterns.

As your therapist I will be able to advise you on how to continue using CBT techniques in your daily life after your treatment ends.