One of the most important aspects, and one which is pointed out to be crucial in all of the research evidence, is that people are requested to go away between session with their therapist and complete homework.

If people fail to do the recordings we know it is significant and will not help them progress throught their treatment.

However one of the stumbling blocks of CBT can be that people will not carry out the daily recordings or keep a diary .
The recordings may cover a number of things. such as recording your behaviour, recording your thoughts, or recording your emotions and thoughts and rating them on a scale of 0- 10.
It is a very important part of the work you need to do in cognitive therapy. You can use the recording sheets that are available on this website and you can down load from this website.

If you are not a reader and find reading difficult then the podcasts will guide you through what you need to do.

Hope this is helpful

Helen

Some further thoughts about new developments in CBT :

DBT this is called Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
DBT is helpful for people with very enduring and chronic problems associated with personality issues, it maybe helpful to consider DBT which is a form of cognitive therapy aimed at emotional regulation.

ACT

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT focuses on altering the function of the thought, so that the influence of thoughts is minimised in the impact they can have on our lives.
Thoughts may be useful for helping our understanding or predicting our actions. But ACT interventions focus on the interactions with the individual's experience, thinking and behaviour. Not just what is going on in our heads.

Mindfulness training is an important aspect of Acceptance therapy

ACT suggests that it might be unhelpful to try and "think our way out of a hole that our thinking has got us into ".  So in fact, we focus on the context of our thoughts and not the content.  In doing this, the impact that the thought is having on other behaviour patterns may be more important to the individual's life.

In ACT you need to:  increase your range of responses (behavioural flexibility),  i.e. do more things you consider personally important.

To engage in behaviour that serves your values and understand that your values are principles that you want your life to stand for.
in this situation the therapist may ask you to identify your sense of purpose, thereby clarifying your beliefs as to what your life is about. This may include your way and style of living : this maybe in terms of family, friends, self-development, health, community and spirituality.

The key feature of ACT iis the role of mindfulness and how it acts to promote the importance of ongoing, non-judgmental contact with the present moment; it is unsurprising that ACT encourages the practice of mindfulness.


Mindfulness encourages individuals to increase their ability to pay attention to what is taking placed in the present by focusing on their thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations and behavioural urges.

Without such awareness, behaviour often automatically follows the urges that result from an individual's confusion with negative private experiences.
Being aware of what is going on in the present moment allows individuals the opportunity to move in the direction of their values.

This information has been taken from the book by Steve Hayes, ( see ref on book list)

* Over the next few months, new downloads will appear on this website. So keep an eye on this website. You can put this website into your favourites box.

In development at the moment are the following :

COPING WITH CHRISTMAS Lauched december 18th 2007 ( completed )

MANAGING YOUR ALCOHOL INTAKE AND STILL HAVING FUN ( ready January 2008)

COPING WITH STALKING ( when someone will not leave you alone)

COPING WITH OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

EMOTIONAL REGULATION. this will be based on DBT and available February 2008

This is to let everyone know that I shall shortly be putting some self-help advice on this blog about coping with Christmas.

It will include some guidelines about the stress of Christmas, and how to manage it, There will also be some guidelines about coping with families and alcohol consumption over Christmas. Watch this space. Best wishes Helen