Your Therapy Space

Accredited CBT and counselling Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and online

Self-criticism

CBT therapist in Leamington Spa: How Cognitive Behavioural Therapy may help with anxiety

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Finding a CBT Therapist in Leamington Spa for Anxiety

If you are experiencing anxiety, you are not alone.  Anxiety is a significant problem which causes many people to seek therapy.  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is recommended by the NHS and NICE guidelines as being effective in helping people overcome anxiety.

CBT is a practical, collaborative and evidence-based approach to therapy and it may help you to understand how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours maintain anxiety.  CBT may help you to learn about alternative ways of thinking and responding.  It may help you to understand yourself and your triggers and learn how to reduce worry, panic, and avoidance so that you could start feeling more in control of your life.  Anxiety can make your life feel very small.  CBT may help you to live in a more fulfilled way.

How CBT Works for Anxiety

Anxiety can feel overwhelming and unpleasant.  You may experience racing thoughts, a pounding heart, muscle tension, or a sense of dread that something terrible will happen.

CBT may help by:

  • Identifying anxious thought patterns and thinking styles (e.g. “I can’t do this,” “Something terrible will happen”).
  • Challenging unhelpful beliefs that make you feel anxious.
  • Gradually face fears in a safe, structured way if relevant so that you can learn to handle situations.
  • Introducing relaxation and grounding techniques to help to calm the nervous system.
  • Developing a relapse prevention plan to help you after therapy has ended.

Common Anxiety Problems Treated with CBT

  • Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Persistent worry; muscle tension; difficulty relaxing; “what if” thinking.
  • Panic Disorder: Repeated panic attacks; fear of losing control; avoidance of situations.
  • Social Anxiety: Fear of being judged negatively, blushing, being embarrassed or public speaking.
  • Phobias: Intense fear of specific things (e.g. small spaces, spiders, heights).
  • Health Anxiety: Worrying constantly about illness or physical symptoms.
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Unwanted intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviours.

What to Expect in CBT Sessions

  • Assessment — Explore anxiety triggers & patterns and goals.
  • Formulation — Build a “picture” of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours (identify how anxiety is maintained) including how early experiences inform this map if relevant.
  • Skill Building — Learn tools to challenge thoughts & reduce avoidance
  • Practice — Apply CBT skills in between sessions (complete homework tasks).
  • Review — Consolidate gains and develop a relapse prevention plan.

Practical CBT Tools for Anxiety

Therapy may include the following:

  • Thought Records: Record thoughts, examine evidence for/against, and reframe them.
  • Behavioural Experiments: Test fears and beliefs in real life (e.g. going to a crowded place) to see if worst-case scenarios happen.
  • Exposure Therapy: Gradually face feared situations in a structured way with the aim of reducing avoidance and generating new learning.
  • Breathing & Grounding Techniques: To help to calm your body’s stress response when you feel overwhelmed.
  • Problem-Solving Skills: Break challenges into manageable steps.

Take the Next Step

If anxiety is affecting your life, CBT may help you to overcome your anxiety. If you are searching for a qualified and experienced and fully accredited CBT therapist in Leamington Spa.  I would be happy to talk with you about how CBT might help your situation.  I offer online sessions which can be arranged at a mutually convenient time to fit in with your schedule.  Please contact me by emailing info@yourtherapyspace.co.uk or ringing 07950064086.  I look forward to helping you.

It’s all my fault

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“It’s all my fault.  I couldn’t make you happy.  Everything I tried ended up with a ‘yes but…’.  Whatever I did was never enough.  It was all up to me.  You wouldn’t even meet me halfway.  It’s as though I was a thing and my experience didn’t matter.  It was all about you and always was.  I spent so much time trying to help you, I’m the one who has now ended feeling low and anxious and not good enough.”

I hope the above does not resonate with you and you have loving relationships in your life.  I hope you have relationships with other people where you matter too and where mutuality and respect and boundaries exist.  I hope that you have a great relationship with yourself and that you like yourself and accept the human condition and don’t expect yourself to achieve perfection endlessly.

We can be so self-critical of ourselves.  Always shouldering the blame and beating ourselves up to be better and do more and try harder.  Think about how you speak to yourself when you make a mistake.  Do the phrases ‘I’m an idiot’, ‘I’m a loser’, ‘I always mess up’ or ‘I’m stupid’ seem familiar?  If so, I wonder how you see these thoughts as helping you?  How is  having a cruel voice in your mind working out for you?  Is this self-criticism consistent with developing resilience in your life?

If you are struggling with self-criticism or perfectionism and want to make some changes but can’t break out of the cycle you are stuck in, please get in touch.