CBT Therapy: What Is It and How Does It Work?

CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The ‘cognitive’ part refers to the way that our brain operates and the ‘behavioural’ part refers to the things that we do, our actions. So Cognitive Behavioural Therapy involves and works with two different parts of us – the way we think and the things we do. CBT works by updating and changing the way we think about things and also our actions.

The human brain is a very complex processing mechanism. Some of its processing systems are laid down very early in life, some people go so far as to say that some of these processing systems begin to form in the womb. So you can see that some of the ways we think have been in place for many, many years. They are like well-trodden paths and the term used to describe these paths is neural pathways. Some of these neural pathways are helpful and work well but others can be unhelpful. The great thing about the brain is that it can change throughout the course of life, it is flexible, malleable and updateable. This process of change is known as neuroplasticity.

In CBT therapy the therapist will question and challenge some of these unhelpful or redundant pathways and help you lay down new ones, more helpful, functional and productive ways of looking at things.

What does this mean? Some people would look at a small bar of chocolate and say ‘That’s a bit small and mean – I can’t be bothered with that’. Another person might look at the very same small bar of chocolate and say something like ‘That looks absolutely delicious – it’s just the right size for me, it’s all I need right now’. The bar of chocolate hasn’t changed, it won’t change, it’s a bar of chocolate, but the way we look at the bar of chocolate can change the way we feel about it.

Let’s now think about our behaviours. Somebody might come to therapy saying something like, I’m overweight, I can’t lose weight and my GP tells me that it is adversely affecting my health. In therapy we might discuss what a normal day looks like and it might transpire that every day at 11am with her morning coffee that person has two chocolate digestive biscuits. The therapist might say something like, ‘Why do you do that?’. And the client might reply something like ‘Well, it’s the way I’ve always done it. I’ve always had two chocolate digestive biscuits with my morning coffee’. Very simply if that person just changes to having only ONE chocolate biscuit she has changed her behaviour.

How do I get CBT Therapy?

There are a number of ways you can get CBT therapy. One way is to speak to your NHS GP and you could get a few sessions of CBT therapy free from the NHS. Another way is to find a CBT therapist in private practice who would do a similar job but the number of CBT therapy sessions you could get would not be limited and you would probably get them more quickly. The third way is to contact someone like me, an Integrative therapist.

I have a tool box filled with many different therapies – believe it or not there are nearly 500 different ‘therapeutic models’ out there. I am trained in CBT and CBT is one of the tools which I use in my work with my clients. In my experience certain tools work better and are more effective for different people and different problems. So my therapy clients get some CBT as part of their work with me even though they might not realise they’re getting it!

What happens in CBT Therapy?

In CBT therapy you, the person or the client, simply talks about the things that have brought you to seek some help. Your therapist would listen closely and attentively without judging any of the things you bring. When the therapist thinks that some of the ways you think or things you do are worth questioning, he or she will do so.

In this process you might feel that some of the thoughts and behaviours are worth changing and the therapist might suggest different ways of thinking about or looking at things or different ways of doing them. For example, could you change eating two chocolate digestives to one every morning? It sounds very simplistic but in practice changing long established ways of thinking and doing sounds a lot easier than it actually is. But your therapist would support and encourage you in this process and would be alongside you all the time. There might be some homework, but usually it’s not that arduous.