Read Coach Paul’s Article on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy CBT) is an interesting field within Psychology that we can all utilise to make positive changes in our lives & overall wellbeing across a multitude of areas e.g., Relationships, Mood, OCD, PTSD, Anxiety, Negative Life View, Life Changes, Alcohol & Drug use, Sporting performance. While it is technique used widely by Psychologists & Therapists, the core principles on which it is based are within most people’s abilities to self-direct.

Two Meta Studies that both had results compiled together from 30+ individual studies confirming that self-directed CBT produces highly effective clinical results. They also confirmed that Self-Help style treatment significantly reduced both anxiety & depression when CBT was incorporated in the treatment protocol.

The image sets-out the interaction & the cyclical nature created by the 3 areas. The concept is how we think (Cognition), feel (Emotion) & act (Behaviours) all interact & interrelate. It allows greater understanding & clarity of how our Thinking dictates our Behaviours & Emotional state. From this our self-perception of an event, situation or experience can change creating a betterment for our life. Awareness that there is a flow in both directions is important. CBT will always work & reflect the level of openness & honesty we allow with ourselves.

CBT in standard form will usually follow these four steps:

• Identifying troubling situations or conditions in your life.
• Becoming aware of your thoughts, emotions & beliefs about these problems.
• Identify the negative or inaccurate thoughts & thought patterns.
• Reshape negative or inaccurate thoughts.

CBT focus is on how you are thinking, behaving & communicating today which will naturally be coloured with past experiences. The primary area is reviewing your Core Beliefs & how they often lead to Automatic Thoughts. Our Core Beliefs are our most central beliefs we have about ourselves, others & the world around us. We begin to develop these ideas in childhood as we interact with others. Many people still hold these ideas & have never challenged them. The methodology to move forward & grow as a person is to identify specific distortions & biases in your thought processes that are not true & do not serve us. We simply offload them by creating the new thought. We use CBT as a great tool to build & develop a factual loving mindset. It can enhance our relationship with ourselves/others & create healthy balanced thoughts that work for us not against us.

CBD is a form of talking therapy, which can be utilized to treat numerous areas that impact lives e.g., trauma, emotions, stress, mental health. A therapist can assist but you can work successfully on this yourself with other options including a family member or close friend. The most important aspects are your desire to be a more authentic & healthy form of yourself in your Thoughts, Behaviours & Emotions.

Our Guest Blogger is Paul Barry from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He works within Elite Sport as both a Coach & Consultant. You can contact him at pbelitecoach@gmail.com