Specialist Psychotherapy

Service Description

1. What is this about? Cognitive Behavior Therapy is a specialist psychological treatment for people who experience difficulties with their emotional health. The CBT model focuses on the role of our thinking and behavior in maintaining our emotional health. It is the psychotherapy with the best empirical evidence base for the treatment of mood disorders (bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety). The aim of the therapy is to alleviate acute episodes of depression, hypomania and anxiety states and also to prevent the occurrence of new mood episodes. 2. What does it offer? • Clinical and psychological evaluation; formulation of psychosocial history • Psycho-education on mood disorders • Training on the CBT model of mood disorders • Training on effective mood and symptom monitoring methods • Development of coping skills that help to manage early warning signs of relapse • Development of coping skills that help to manage negative and stressful events, anxiety states, sleep difficulties, and social and work routines • Treatment of dysfunctional thoughts, attitudes, core-beliefs, and other behaviors that trigger and maintain emotional disorders • Treatment of depression, hypomania, anxiety and prevention of new episodes (depression, mania, psychosis) • Improvement of social and work functioning and emotional well-being. CBT therapy provides an opportunity to people with bipolar disorder and depression to achieve stability in their life and to improve their functioning by acquiring effective coping skills. It has a solid evidence base provided by many treatment trials conducted at specialist academic centers across the world (two of the most notable trials have been conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London by Prof. Dominic Lam studies and Harvard university in the STEP-BD trial). Our CBT programme is integrated with contemporary mindful practices and also 3rd wave behaviour therapies (DBT, ACT, FAP) depending on the clinical needs.