Page 58 - Part A

Counselling Skills

Look at the following case study example to see how CBT works in practice.

C Case Study: CBT – one person’s experience

Carol had CBT after the death of her husband. She found it to be
a painful experience at times, but it gave her the confidence to
continue helping herself. She said:
‘I had CBT in the millennium year, a couple of years after my
husband died. My husband’s death hit me really badly, because
we had been together for so long. I had experienced depression
as a teenager and was feeling extremely down again.

One of the things about CBT is a very emotional experience,
because as you work through it, you relive painful experiences.
It can be agonising in many ways.

I had eight or so treatments by the time I finished the course,
and I had definitely shaken a lot of things out of myself. It’s
given me the confidence to be able to help myself.

The CBT worked for me because I understood what was
happening. It was a clearly defined exercise that was obviously
leading somewhere, and the truth is that deliberately raking
everything up achieved something.

The psychiatrist gave me a book called ‘Mind over Mood’
with exercises that you can do on your own. It’s a very good
book for depression.’

Source: https://www.your.md/condition/cognitive-behavioural-
therapy/

Q. What is the difference between CBT and other theories?

A. The main difference is that CBT focuses on changing behaviour and irrational
beliefs, rather than trying to find the root cause of the problem.

Other differences are:

• CBT counsellors do not usually interpret unconscious motivations, but
bring thoughts and beliefs into the current focus of attention

• CBT focuses on a shared model of understanding of self-evaluation

• CBT is solution-focused and works best with specific concerns, rather
than more complex mental health issues.

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