The Counselling Barn

The Theory

Theorists behind this approach (Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis) highlighted the philosophy that human beings have core beliefs, which form our personality. Deep rooted core beliefs are often unconscious so we may behave, think or feel a certain way and not really know why; we can act-out our core beliefs without any awareness of them.

CBT is based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion), and how we act (behavior) all interacts together. Specifically, our thoughts determine our feelings and our behavior. Therefore negative thoughts (known as distortions) can cause us distress and result in problems.

The Therapy

In CBT you will be encouraged to look at your thinking, feeling and behaviour from a more rational perspective. The counsellor will explore your experiences with you to look at ways you could alter these in the future. This includes challenging your beliefs, as a means of managing your feelings and behaviour.

Cognitive behavioural approaches are short term, more solution focussed and practical in comparison to humanistic and psychodynamic. The counselling relationship is often based on a collaborative/educational interaction between therapist and client