Mental Health

2.1 Analyse why CBT is recommended by the N.I.C.E frequently as a treatment for many common mental health problems.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has recommended cognitive behaviour therapy for common mental health problems. It is indicated to those with Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Anxiety. The purpose of the therapy is to reduce distress and unwanted behaviour by undergoing previous learning or adapting new learning experiences.

Commissioners will want to ensure that adequate arrangements are in place so the client is properly diagnosed. It is important that part of the diagnostic process to assess the patients severity to determine the intensity of intervention recommended.

So what is CBT and how does it work?
CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) is a therapy that focuses on bad negative thoughts. Whether they are about the way you look or about everyday life and the way you see other people, it is a therapy that can help you change the way you think (cognitive) and what you do (behaviour). It can change your whole frame of mind by focussing on the here and now problems unlike some of the other talking therapies which focus on your past, CBT can improve your state of mind now. CBT can help you make a sense of overwhelming problems by breaking them down into smaller parts. This makes it easier to see how they are connected and how they affect you. These parts are:

A Situation - a problem, event or difficult situation

From this can follow:

  1. Thoughts
  2. Emotions
  3. Physical feelings
  4. Actions

Each of these areas can affect the others. How you think about a problem can affect how you feel physically and emotionally. It can also alter what you do about it. There are helpful and unhelpful ways of reacting to most situations, depending on how you think about them.

For example:

|Situation:         |You've had a bad day, feel fed up, so go out shopping.... [continues]

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