Category: CBT - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

1. What to expect in your first therapy session?

   Posted on 12:00pm Monday 22nd May 2023

   What to expect in your first therapy session? 

   Therapy can be a daunting and overwhelming experience, especially if you’ve never been before. It’s natural to feel nervous about opening up to a stranger and discussing your most personal thoughts and feelings. But fear not! Your first therapy session is all about getting to know each other, setting goals, and establishing a plan for your therapeutic journey. In this blog post, I've outlined what you can expect in your first therapy session so that you can go in feeling prepared and confident.  

   What will happen in the first session? 

   During your first therapy session, you can expect to spend most of the time getting to know each other and this is why a first therapy session is often a little longer than subsequent sessions. I’ll ask you some questions about yourself, what brings you to therapy, and what goals you hope to achieve through treatment. It might be useful for you to talk about any relevant personal history and background. This information will help me get a better understanding of who you are as a person, your priorities, life challenges which can enable me to best support you on your journey. This is also a great time for you to share any concerns or apprehensions you have with the process, I can answer any questions which may put your mind at ease and I can look at ways to accommodate any concerns so you feel as comfortable as possible. This isn’t just appropriate in the first session but in any sessions going forward, therapy is a collaborative two-way process so if you have any questions at any time please ask! During this first session I’ll give you lots of information about my approach towards treatment and provide some insight into what future sessions might look like. One of the most important things about this first session is that we’ll look at creating an achievable goal for therapy so that we’re both working on the same page, in the same direction and I can guide our sessions most effectively for you. With the cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy approachwe’ll also aim to fit in time to try some hypnotherapy too if you’re comfortable with this. If not, that’sabsolutely fine as everything I offer to clients can also be done without the use of hypnosis and at your own pace. 

   What will therapy be like overall? 

   Therapy can vary greatly from person to person. Some people may find it challenging and emotional, while others may feel relieved and empowered by the experience and many people may experience all of those feelings at different stages. With the cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy technique we will particularly look at helping you identify your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are causing distress in your life. We will work to develop coping mechanisms for managing these challenges and guide you towards achieving your goals so there will be lots of opportunities for learning and self-reflection along the way. 

    

2. Transform Your Thinking: A Beginner's Guide to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

   Posted on 7:00am Monday 15th May 2023

   Do you ever find yourself trapped in negative thought cycles? Perhaps overthinking or over worrying, feeling like your thoughts are out of control or working in ways that you know aren’t helping your situation? One of the great things about the CBH (cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy) that I offer is that it’s not just hypnotherapy. It also includes the talking therapy aspect of Cognitive behavioural therapy, also known as CBT. This is a form of psychotherapy that was developed in the 60s and 70s and is now the most commonly used therapy across the world. CBT focuses on identifying our thoughts, feelings and behaviours (the way we act or things we do). Because these are interconnected, and that changing one (our thoughts, our feelings or our behaviours) we can support change in the others.  It is particularly effective at breaking down problems into specific, smaller problems and offering practical solutions to manage or resolve issues. CBT is widely used to treat a range of mental health conditions but tends to focus on issues that are affecting people at the moment rather than historical traumas which can be treated with other forms of psychotherapy. By learning to identify and challenge negative thoughts, people can more effectively manage their emotions and develop coping strategies to deal with challenging situations. During our sessions we’ll work collaboratively to identify and challenge your negative thought patterns, and to develop coping strategies that help you manage your symptoms. The next part is where hypnotherapy comes as we can use hypnotherapy to try practise using the skillswe’ve discussed during the talking therapy part of our session which supports you to make long term therapeutic change. 

   The goal of CBT is to help individuals develop healthier ways of thinking and behaving, which in turn can improve their mental health and quality of life. Learning to be more aware of your thoughts is also an incredibly useful long term skill which is incredibly empowering. You can take your CBT knowledge forward and apply to every area of your life. Not only will you know yourself better but you’ll also have a greater understanding of other people and your relationship with them. This means that what you learn in our therapy sessions can support your wellbeing long after our sessions have ended.