At CBT Solutions we offer assessment and therapy for a range of issues (as well as referral to other relevant services, when appropriate). Here we give a summary of some of the main issues we work with. If you feel you need help with anything described here, please contact us to further discuss the help that is available. COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY AND DEPRESSION Depression is a state consisting of low mood, lack of interest, withdrawal etc, that persists over a long period of time. Depressed people tend to have a negative view of themselves, the world and the future. CBT addresses Depression by way of: increasing activities (especially rewarding ones), challenging automatic negative thoughts, examining old beliefs, building up self-esteem, etc. COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY AND ANXIETY Anxiety is characterised by feelings of apprehension and worry, spontaneous panic attacks, irritability, poor sleeping, avoidance and poor concentration. Anxiety can present itself in the forms of: palpations, sweating, chest pain, nausea, butterflies, urges to go to the toilet, hot flushes, trembling, stammering etc. CBT addresses Anxiety by way of: cognitive restructuring, relaxation training, overcoming avoidance through graded exposure. This involves challenging the relationship we have with our anxious thoughts and feelings and recognising that situations make us uneasy or anxious only after we apply meaning and attitudes to them. COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY AND OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER OCD is an anxiety disorder. Obsessions are recurrent thoughts with which an individual can persecute themselves by creating a sense of threat. Compulsions are unwanted, unnecessary, excessive and repetitive forms of behaviour that are carried out because of a strong feeling of compulsion to do so. CBT address OCD by way of: challenging and altering thought patterns, experimenting with exposure without responding, learning to be mindful of thoughts without acting on them. 
COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY AND SOCIAL ANXIETY People with social anxiety may suffer from: fear that everyone’s attention is focused on them, fear that they will make mistakes and everyone will notice, feelings that everyone else is more capable in the same situation, fear that they are being judged by others, fear that they will embarrass or humiliate themselves in front of others. CBT addresses Social Anxiety by way of: helping the client cope with and to change irrational, repetitive thoughts which may precede and intensify anxiety in feared situations. CBT also focuses on self-esteem, anger, assertiveness, social skills and other issues. COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY AND LOW SELF-ESTEEM Self-esteem refers to our sense of being valuable, worthwhile, worthy of love and capable. CBT addresses Low Self-Esteem by way of: identifying and challenging your core beliefs about yourself, identifying your anxious predictions and checking them out for yourself by approaching situations you might normally avoid and dropping unnecessary precautions. COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY AND ADDICTIONS Addictions (to alcohol/drugs, or to behaviours such as gambling) are characterised by increasing inability to control these mood-altering activities, leading to escalating damage in all areas of life. CBT addresses Addictions by way of: helping clients to identify the thoughts, behaviours and environmental triggers which lead to relapse, and to develop skills to respond to these. COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY AND ANOREXIA NERVOSA An Eating Disorder in the form of Anorexia Nervosa is characterised by deliberate attempts to loseweight, usually by voluntary starvation, but also by inducing vomiting, abusinglaxatives and exercising excessively. There is an intense fear of becoming fat. CBT addresses Anorexia Nervosa by way of: challenging the way you think, monitoring your eating, changing your eating patterns, improving your body image, developing assertiveness, dealing with anxiety and depression. We also work with BULIMIA, PROBLEM ANGER, RELATIONSHIP ISSUES etc 
| 
