CBT Therapy: Your Key to Positive Change
Table of Contents
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy used to treat addiction. It is based on the idea that thoughts, emotions, and behaviour are all intertwined and have a direct influence on one another. The goal of CBT is to help identify and challenge negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to break the cycle of addiction. CBT also focuses on developing coping skills and techniques to help manage addiction, improve emotional well-being, and ultimately make healthier choices.
We work with licensed CBT specialists who are ready to help you improve your long-term recovery chances through this tested talking therapy.
Download Brochure
The Benefits of CBT in Addiction Treatment
Cognitive behavioural therapy is an effective and evidence-based treatment for addiction. It offers numerous benefits that can help you make long-term changes to your behaviour and lifestyle.
In addition, CBT has been proven to reduce stress and anxiety, which can be a major factor in addiction. By helping you reduce your stress levels, CBT can improve overall mental health and help better manage the symptoms of your addiction.
With improved self-awareness, you can make healthier choices and reduce the chances of relapse.
Our Approach to CBT-Based Addiction Therapy
At CATCH Recovery, we believe that cognitive behavioural therapy is an essential ingredient for long-term recovery. Our approach to CBT-based addiction therapy is informed by decades of research and evidence-based practices. We combine the evidence-based techniques of CBT with a holistic, individualised approach to help you beat substance use disorders and process addictions.
Our team of certified therapists are highly trained in the use of CBT, and we understand how powerful this type of therapy can be when used correctly to tackle the underlying issues that contribute to addictive behaviours. Our therapists use a range of strategies to help you break free from your addictions and start living a healthier and more fulfilling life.
We believe that the most effective addiction treatment is tailored to suit each patient. Once you call us for the initial screening, we will keep working together to create the optimal counselling programme, scheduling therapy sessions to provide optimal solutions for your needs.
Featured CBT Specialists
José is a Counsellor and Psychotherapist holding an MSc in
Counselling and several qualifications in Addiction Counselling. He
has been working in the field of addiction and associated disorders
since 2003 gaining extensive experience working with compulsive
behaviours, mental health and substance addictions.
Over the years José has worked primarily in leading residential
treatment facilities as Counsellor, Senior Counsellor, Head
Therapist and Clinical Manager overseeing teams of
multidisciplinary clinicians. He has worked individually with clients
over extended periods of time affording the opportunity for long
term and sustainable recovery and change.
As an integrative therapist with long experience working in the
addiction and compulsive behaviours’ field, José provides a range of
different models and concepts of therapy, such as CBT, CAT, MI,
Relapse Prevention, Psychodynamic, Systemic and Gestalt. He
facilitates psycho-educational workshops and interpersonal
psychotherapy groups as well as individual therapy, supervision,
training, and clinical management.
José is fluent in English, Portuguese, French, and Spanish. He is also
involved in Communitarian work, Politics and Sports
BSc, MB, BS, MRCGP, FDSc CSAT3 (Asia Pacific)
Seamus works online for Catch Recovery London and Castle Craig as an aftercare teletherapist.
Seamus trained as a doctor at the University of London and then became a GP in the Royal Air Force for 22 years, running his own medical centres on a variety of flying stations both in the UK and abroad in conflict zones.
He developed an interest in addiction and trauma with many of his patients predominantly suffering from addictions to alcohol, prescription drugs and other compulsive behaviours around food, work, control, and co-dependence.
On retiring from the RAF in 2006 he completed a degree in Addiction Counselling at Bath University, and worked in a prison setting, delivering a 12 Step daycare programme. He has also worked with addicted health professionals in a therapeutic community, developing a 12 Step recovery programme with a CBT-based mindfulness and acceptance approach.
In the last ten years he has worked within Asia; running an intensive Addiction Outpatient Program in Hong Kong and in residential rehabs in Malaysia and Thailand as well as being a programme director at a treatment centre in Borneo.
Austin has been qualified as an integrative therapist for 10 years. During his training, he worked at various treatment centres as a peer support, trainee therapist, client liaison, and sober transportation manager.
Austin works using a combination of approaches to talk therapy which include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Transactional Analysis to help with new perspectives. Austin is passionate about a holistic and spiritual approach. He uses Mindfulness practices and Emotional Freedom Techniques (tapping) to help regulate emotional distress and anxiety.
Since entering into recovery in 2004, Austin has gained a deeper understanding of spiritual living and enjoys a more altruistic lifestyle. Enjoying his 19th year of continual recovery Austin is active in the fellowship. His true happiness comes from working with others to improve and achieve inner peace.
Feeling alone or powerless in this world is something a lot of people go through. He believes making sense of complicated emotional situations and learning new ways to cope with practical struggles becomes easier when shared with someone who is not involved with the situation directly and can support you to find your own solution.
Paul has a wealth of experience in psychological intervention, having worked
in various multi-disciplinary work settings, including NHS IAPT services
(Improving Access to Psychological Therapies), alcohol and drug misuse
services, renowned private residential rehabs and prisons. He has also had a
successful private practice in Harley Street and the Home Counties, and now
works from Guildford in Surrey, Horsham in West Sussex, and online.
He is experienced in working with a variety of different issues, including but not
limited to substance misuse, gambling, sex addiction, porn addiction, internet
addiction and eating disorders. He has worked with problems relating to
anxiety, depression, stress, abuse, relationships, work, self-harm, and OCD.
Paul applies various contemporary research and evidence-based therapeutic
models, including CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), MET (Motivational
Enhancement Therapy) and Humanistic Person Centred Therapy to help
facilitate change and help people with various issues to live more balanced
lives.
Paul is a BACP accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist who draws on his
experience and knowledge to provide therapy in a safe, supportive and
confidential manner. Paul believes in the therapeutic relationship between the
counsellor and client to be key, built on trust so that a shared open alliance
can form.
Developing Coping Skills and Resilience Through CBT
Cognitive behavioural therapy is an evidence-based addiction treatment that can help you build coping skills and resilience to manage your cravings. Through structured exercises, CBT helps identify and challenge negative thoughts and behaviours that drive addictive behaviour. By replacing these thoughts with more positive ones, you can reduce the intensity of your cravings and learn healthier ways to cope with stress. The development of coping skills and resilience can also help you build a healthier lifestyle and reduce the chances of relapse.
Evidence-Based Techniques Used in CBT
At CATCH Recovery, we believe that cognitive behavioural therapy is a powerful tool for treating addiction due to its evidence-based techniques. The use of CBT is based on decades of research and clinical practice, and it has consistently been shown to be an effective treatment for substance use disorders and process addictions.
Through CBT, our certified cognitive behavioural therapists can help you identify and challenge negative thoughts and behaviours that contribute to your drug dependence. Based on effectiveness research and clinical trials, it also works great with other treatments including skills training and other forms of behavioural therapy such as dialectical behavioural therapy.
Understanding Triggers and Managing Craving
Cognitive behavioural therapy can help you understand the triggers that lead to your addictive behaviour, as well as develop strategies to manage cravings. By identifying the thoughts and behaviours contributing to your addiction, CBT helps break the cycle of addictive behaviour and replace it with healthier coping skills. Through relaxation techniques and behavioural exercises, CBT can help you better control your emotions in difficult situations and reduce stress levels which could otherwise lead to relapse.
Relapse Prevention: Strategies for Long-Term Recovery
The CATCH Recovery team uses multiple strategies to help our clients heal from addictions and enter long-term recovery while assisting in forming relapse-prevention habits during the sessions. Here are some exercises you might experience during your sessions with our therapists:
- Thought Record: Identify and challenge negative or distorted thoughts.
- Behavioural Activation: Increase engagement in positive activities to improve mood.
- Exposure Therapy: Gradual exposure to feared situations or stimuli to reduce anxiety.
- Role-Playing: Act out and practice new ways of thinking and behaving.
- Socratic Questioning: Challenge irrational beliefs through guided questioning.
- Graded Task Assignment: Break tasks into smaller, manageable steps.
- Activity Scheduling: Plan and schedule enjoyable and fulfilling activities.
- Cognitive Restructuring: Identify and reframe negative or unhelpful thoughts.
- Problem-Solving: Identify problems, generate solutions, and evaluate outcomes.
- Relaxation Techniques: Practice deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or guided imagery to reduce stress.
- Assertiveness Training: Learn and practice assertive communication skills.
- Thought Stopping: Interrupt and replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
- Pleasant Event Calendar: Track and plan positive experiences.
- Mindfulness Meditation: Cultivate present-moment awareness and acceptance.
- Self-Monitoring: Track thoughts, emotions, and behaviours to identify patterns.
- Imagery-Based Exposure: Imagine and confront feared situations in a safe environment.
- Automatic Thought Log: Identify automatic thoughts and challenge their validity.
- Problematic Thinking Styles: Recognise and challenge common thinking errors.
- Behavioural Experiments: Test beliefs or assumptions through real-life experiences.
- Goal Setting: Set specific, achievable goals to work towards.
CBT aims to fight dysfunctional beliefs through a proven therapeutic approach including a personalised treatment plan, functional analysis and innovative skills-building methodologies. CBT treatment is best suited in combination with other treatment strategies to successfully eliminate negative thinking from everyday life.
Cognitive Restructuring: Changing Negative Thought
Cognitive restructuring is a core technique used in cognitive behavioural therapy to help individuals identify and change negative thought patterns or cognitive distortions. It involves examining and challenging irrational or unhelpful thoughts and replacing them with more balanced, realistic, and adaptive thoughts.
This method aims to help you develop more accurate, realistic, and balanced thinking, which in turn can lead to improved emotional well-being, adaptive behaviours, and better overall functioning. It is a collaborative process between you and your therapist, and its effectiveness is supported by research in the field of cognitive-behavioural psychology (Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009). It is extremely valuable in treating addiction-related anxiety disorders.
Customised Treatment Plans for Each Individual
At CATCH Recovery we believe in providing each of our clients with custom therapy and counselling programmes. This way we can promise you optimal results based on proven techniques and methods and cognitive behavioural therapy offers a powerful avenue for breaking the cycle of drug addiction and learning new skills. We will begin your programme with a free screening and after that, we can decide on your therapy. We use both individual counselling and support groups to help you fight substance misuse, including alcohol, drugs and mental illness as a co-occurring disorder.
CBT for Substance Abuse: Breaking the Cycle
Cognitive behavioural therapy can be an invaluable tool in breaking the cycle of addiction. When abusing substances, CBT can help you identify triggers and find better-coping mechanisms. Additionally, you can use the methods discovered during your sessions to successfully challenge stressors and eliminate drug abuse and cravings from your life.
According to the American Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, trauma-focused CBT successfully treats mental health problems that co-occur with substance abuse such as alcoholism, cocaine addiction and other drug addiction types.
Cognitive behavioural therapy has been proven through clinical trials to work for addiction treatment. Combined with other cognitive therapy options, it can improve your chances of long-term recovery. We use CBT in treating the effects of:
Start Your Recovery Journey Today
CBT for Behavioural Addictions and Anxiety Disorders: Changing Patterns
When it comes to process addictions, patterns are the leading cause of various mental health conditions including some eating disorders, OCDs and process addictions. This is where CBT comes in handy as restructuring patterns is one of the main concerns during these sessions. Our cognitive behavioural therapists will help you reform your relationships with your actions and reactions and eliminate the need for harmful processes from your life.
If you are looking for substance abuse treatment that will provide you with operant learning strategies, distinct interventions for triggering situations, new coping skills, and ways to handle negative feelings and painful feelings while also giving you reliable motivational elements for enjoying daily life, then our CBT programmes are for you. We offer licensed mental health counsellor services which can help you achieve long-term recovery.