CBT/Mindfulness

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be used to treat people with a wide range of mental health problems.

CBT is based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we act (behavior) all interact together.  Specifically, our thoughts determine our feelings and our behavior.

Therefore, negative and unrealistic thoughts can cause us distress and result in problems. When a person suffers with psychological distress, the way in which they interpret situations becomes skewed, which in turn has a negative impact on the actions they take.

CBT aims to help people become aware of when they make negative interpretations, and of behavioral patterns which reinforce the distorted thinking.  Cognitive therapy helps people to develop alternative ways of thinking and behaving which aims to reduce their psychological distress.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is, in fact, an umbrella term for many different therapies that share some common elements. Two of the earliest forms of Cognitive behavioral Therapy were Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), developed by Albert Ellis in the 1950s, and Cognitive Therapy, developed by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s.

See Dobson and Block (1988) for a review of the historical basis of cognitive behavioral therapy

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a way of paying attention that originated in Eastern meditation practices. It is paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. It is bringing one's complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis"