Is CBT for Me?

If you identify with any of the following CBT may be able to help you.

A worry, fear or anticipation about future events. Do you have a tendency to over-estimate danger and/or avoid situations that can bring on anxious feelings? Anxiety can lead to intense physical sensations. It can also prevent you from doing things that you want to do through fear of failure or thoughts of bad things happening.

Are you worried about your physical health? Have you been to the doctors and been given the all clear, but still concerned that they may have missed something? Feeling worried about a health condition can be consuming. It can take over the day and leaves little time and energy for other pleasurable things.

An intense surge of physical sensations such as breathlessness, fast heartbeat, shakiness, sweatiness, head ache, chest pains. These symptoms can be very frightening and often appear out of the blue. Do you feel like you are having a heart attack or other serious complications? Do you avoid putting yourself in certain situations in fear of inducing panic symptoms? The fear of having a panic attack is often enough to put people off from achieving the things they want to do.

Most people worry and have intrusive thoughts, but for some people this can spiral out of control. Do you find it hard to switch off? Do worries and intrusive thoughts eat into your day and night? Worrying and having intrusive thoughts can be exhausting and make day to day tasks challenging.

Obsessive Compulsive disorder is having recurrent unwanted, obsessional thoughts or compulsive acts. Do you feel compelled to respond to this thoughts and obsessions? Do these thoughts, urges and feelings make you feel anxious? Do they repeatedly enter your mind and make you feel uneasy or disgusted? OCD can take over your life making it difficult to function day to day.

Depression can manifest itself in many different ways. Are you feeling unhappy, lacking motivation, feeling flat, have a loss of interest in things you to enjoy? Have you noticed a disturbed sleep? Change in appetite? Depression can lead you to wanting to distance yourself from love ones. It can make you question life… ‘what’s the point?’.

Low self-esteem can affect your mood and motivation. Do you feel that no matter what you do its just not good enough? Do you always put others first and neglect your own desires and needs? Do you set yourself high expectations and feel frustrated if you don’t achieve them? Low self-esteem can impact on all areas of your life leaving you feeling drained.

 

Any adjustment or big change in life can leave us feeling unsettled. Sometimes it resolves itself and sometimes it can leave us feeling stuck. Are you wondering what your role is in life? Where is this path taking you? Would you like to feel that you have choices and feel empowered? Adjusting can sometimes set us off our tracks and can lead to problems in relationships and confidence.

Have you experiences or witnessed a traumatic event? Do you have flash backs, nightmares or re occurring images of what happened? Do you blame yourself or feel guilty or ashamed? Do you avoid reminders of what happened? Does thinking about the event make you feel uneasy? PTSD can take control of your lives. It can be a constant reminder and prevents you from moving on with your life.

Are you no longer able to do the things you used to? Do feel defined by your illness rather than people seeing the real you? Wondering how you will find enjoyment in life having a long term condition? Being diagnosed with a LTC can be huge shock and adjustment. It is easy to lose confidence in yourself.

Do you feel overwhelmed at work or at home? Finding it hard to get things done? Do you find yourself getting irritable? Stress can be very overwhelming and can bring on anxiety and low mood. Feeling stressed can affect all areas of our life such as relationships, sleep, diet and confidence.

Are you noticing repetitive destructive behaviours? Struggling to break that cycle and break free from the addiction? Is it interfering with work, relationships and your commitments? Addictions can be tough to overcome and can make you feel like you are losing control. Having an addiction can be consuming makes it hard to function day to day.