The Centre for
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy,
is an independent, specialist,
psycho-educational, counselling
and training centre for a broad
spectrum of
psychological/emotional problems.
Eclectic and holistic in approach,
our underlying ethos is inherent
in a treatment rationale which
treats the whole person; body,
mind, and spirit.
We also employ a Doctor to carry
out all medical examinations as
part of a well persons' stress
reduction programme, as well as
specialist staff for clients
individual needs.
Cognitive Therapy was developed in
the United States in the early
nineteen seventies, by Aaron Beck,
but only in the last five years
has it made a significant impact
on stress prevention and
therapeutic interventions, in the
United Kingdom.
The goal of the therapy is to help
clients uncover their
dysfunctional and irrational
beliefs, reality test their
thinking and behaviour, and build
more adaptive and functional
coping techniques. By developing
new and specific skills, and
teaching a model for future
problem solving, clients become,
in effect, their own therapists,
and have a considerable repertoire
of strategies to better cope with
future problems as they arise.
The Cognitive-Behavioural
therapist redirects clients faulty
cognitions, attitudes, and
behaviour, with the benefit of
increased self-esteem,
amelioration of symptoms, and
better life strategies.
Cognitive-Behavioural
Therapy is a relatively short
term, active, directive,
collaborative between client and
therapist which has a strong
psycho-educational bias.
The early pre-socratic thinker
Epicectus second century B. C
said, "It is not what people
experience, but how they interpret
it, that determines how they are".
By teaching clients to step back
into the position of an observer,
and to hypothesis test their
thoughts and feelings using the
cognitive model, better
alternatives in reasoning and
problem solving, increased social
and interpersonal skills, and
raised self awareness can occur.
A re-attribution of meaning, and
reinventing of a persons life come
as a result of an inner
transformation, when Socratic
questioning and guided discovery
are used to provide insight into
core beliefs, and facilitate deep
and lasting changes in the way
people see themselves, their
world, and the future.