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Working with Cognitions Outside Consciousness Awareness
Many of the cognitions that guide our emotions and behaviours are not within our conscious awareness. This means a person can act on a cognition without it appearing to them to be a…
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The One Mistake Most Therapists Make (sometimes) as They End a Session
“How did I manage to do that AGAIN?” This is a question I often ask myself when I run out of time. Yes, you probably guessed: the most common mistake as we end…
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Predictors of Suicidal Ideation and Attempts: A Special Case of Anxiety Sensitivity.
I share with you this summary of a review of the literature on the cognitive traits and themes that are known to correlate with suicidal thoughts and behaviours. I started an updated literature…
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Can I use a standard template when I do an individual case formulation?
The answer is “it depends”. It is helpful for the client and the clinician to use a standard template for a case formulation. A standard template does not refer to a theoretical model…
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Keeping Therapy on Track – Avoiding Therapist Drift
“Our tendency to drift away from evidence-based practice is the product of a range of very human experiences and characteristics. These factors mean that we engage in safety behaviours in order to reduce…
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The Role of Cognitive Rumination in Psychological Distress
Some recent studies have reinforced the potency of rumination as a modifiable cognitive trait that causes and maintains psychological distress. In cognitive therapy, one of the main effective interventions is teaching patients to…
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Fused to Defusion: “ACT is better than CBT”
‘Defusion’ from cognitions can be said to be the process of stepping away from one’s thoughts and seeing them objectively as objects within one’s mind – objects that do not have to be…
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Problem Solving Client Motivation
As all cognitive therapists know, clients hit roadblocks quite often – even the more motivated clients. There are so many reasons why a client may hesitate to do an important therapy task, not…
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Client Self-Love -Tips For Therapists
Two powerful ideas to help clients to achieve “Self-Love” A. Remove unhelpful meta-cognitions – the fear of self-compassion Many people associate the concept of love for the self as egotism or vain narcissism.…
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Preparing Clients for Staying on Track – Seven Pillars of effective CBT
Before you start any type of therapy with a client, it is worth taking some time to explain to them what we know about what makes therapy effective. Below are seven points that…