What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?
One of the most researched treatments in psychology: practical, structured, and focused on the loops that keep distress running.
CBT starts from the observation that thoughts, feelings, and behaviours feed one another. A thought (“I will embarrass myself”) drives a feeling (dread), which drives a behaviour (avoiding the meeting), which quietly confirms the thought. Loops like this can keep anxiety and low mood running for years.
In CBT we make those loops visible, examine the thoughts and predictions inside them — not by forcing positivity, but by testing them honestly — and change the behaviours that keep them going.
It is collaborative and skills-based: you leave with tools you can use for the rest of your life, and we measure progress against goals we set together.
How it works
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Map the loop
We lay out how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are maintaining the problem.
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Test the predictions
Beliefs get examined against real evidence — usually by doing things, not just discussing them.
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Change the maintaining behaviour
Avoidance, checking, over-preparing: when the maintaining behaviour shifts, the loop loses power.
CBT can help with
- Anxiety and worry
- Depression and low mood
- Panic
- Social anxiety
- Sleep difficulties
- Stress and burnout
CBT runs through much of my work, usually woven together with emotion-focused and schema approaches.