Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a psychological approach based on scientific principles which research has shown to be effective for a wide range of problems. 

CBT involves the client and therapist working together to identify and understand problems in terms of the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The cognitive component in CBT refers to how people think about and create meaning about situations, symptoms and events in their lives and develop beliefs about themselves, others and the world. It uses techniques to help people become more aware of how they reason, and the kinds of automatic thought that spring to mind and give meaning to things. 

The behavioural component in CBT refers to the way in which people respond when distressed. Responses such as avoidance, reduced activity and unhelpful behaviours can act to keep the problems going or worsen how the person feels. The aim of CBT to help a person feel safe enough to gradually test out their assumptions and fears and change their behaviours. For example, this might include helping people to gradually face feared or avoided situations as a means to reducing anxiety and learning new behavioural skills to tackle problems. 

Importantly the aim of CBT is to directly target distressing symptoms, reduce distress, re-evaluate thinking and promote helpful behavioural responses by offering problem-focused skills-based treatment interventions. The focus of CBT is usually on problems in the here and now, although it recognizes the importance of causes of distress or symptoms in the past. It relies on a shared model of understanding, using a psycho-educational approach, working towards a client’s own therapy goals. The focus in CBT is in specific psychological and practical skills aimed at enabling the client to generate solutions to their problems that are more helpful than their present ways of coping. CBT involves the client using the time between therapy sessions to try things out, record information and bring this feedback to the next session. Outcome of interventions are continually monitored, evaluated and modified where required to gain the maximum effect. The approaches can be used to help anyone irrespective of ability, culture, race, gender or sexual preference.

EMDR is - Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing - Therapy

EMDR is a psychological therapy for the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories. EMDR facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories to bring these to an adaptive resolution. After successful treatment with EMDR, emotional distress is relieved, negative beliefs are reformulated, and anxiety is reduced. 

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing integrates elements of many effective psychotherapies in structured protocols that are designed to maximise treatment effects. The effectiveness of EMDR for PTSD has been demonstrated by research, and EMDR is recommended as an evidence-based procedure by the British Department of Health, among other professional bodies.

Brainspotting is a powerful, focused treatment method that works by identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation and a variety of other challenging symptoms. Brainspotting is a simultaneous form of diagnosis and treatment, enhanced with Biolateral sound, which is deep, direct, and powerful yet focused and containing.

Brainspotting gives us a tool, within the clinical relationship, to neurobiologically locate, focus, process, and release experiences and symptoms that are typically out of reach of the conscious mind and its cognitive and language capacity.

Brainspotting works with the deep brain and the body through its direct access to the autonomic and limbic systems within the body’s central nervous system. Brainspotting is accordingly a physiological tool/treatment which has profound psychological, emotional, and physical consequences.

Brainspotting is a “body to body” approach. The distress is activated and located in the body which then leads to the locating of the Brainspot based on eye position. As opposed to EMDR where the traumatic memory is the “target”, in Brainspotting the Brainspot is the target or “focus or activation point”. Everything is aimed at activating, locating, and processing the Brainspot.

Any life event which causes significant physical and/or emotional injury and distress, in which the person powerfully experiences being overwhelmed, helpless, or trapped, can become a traumatic experience.

There is growing recognition within the healing professions that experiences of physical and/or emotional injury, acute and chronic pain, serious physical illness, dealing with difficult medical interventions, societal turmoil, environmental disaster, as well as many other problematic life events, will contribute to the development of a substantial reservoir of life trauma. That trauma is held in the body.

In most cases, the traumatised individual does not usually have the opportunity or the support to adequately process and integrate these traumatic life events. The traumatic experience then becomes a part of that individual’s trauma reservoir. The body and the psyche cannot remain unaffected by the physical, energetic and emotional costs extracted by this accumulated trauma load. The medical and psychological literature now acknowledges that approximately 75% of requests for medical care are linked to the actions or consequences of this accumulation of stress and/or trauma upon the systems of the human body.

Every health care professional encounters treatment situations in which physical symptoms cannot be separated from their emotional or psychological correlates. Traumatic life experiences, whether physical or emotional, are often significant contributing factors in the development and/or maintenance of most of the symptoms and problems encountered in health care.