Mental Health

Cognitive Therapy is at the forefront of evidence based treatments for a wide variety of Mental Health conditions.

Diagnosis of Mental Disorders

“They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me.”
– Nathaniel Lee

Mental Health disorders are currently identified by the criteria set forth in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) of the American Psychiatric Association.  The Psychologists at the Centre for Cognitive Therapy are licensed to make DSM diagnoses.  The recent version of the diagnostic manual has come under criticism for becoming over-inclusive and making diagnoses of normal variations in life circumstances.  The Centre for Cognitive Therapy is aware of the limitations of the DSM and use diagnoses judiciously.

Treatment of Mental Disorders

Conditions such as Depression and Mood disorders, Anxiety and related Disorders, Trauma related Disorders, Eating Disorders and many others have been studied extensively and various treatment programs developed to alleviate the symptoms of these conditions.

Research continues to develop an understanding of the cognitive bases for many forms of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and there is now accumulating evidence for cognitive factors in psychosis. 

Research in Cognitive Therapy is helping us to understand why these problems are not mutually exclusive and often people will suffer several conditions at once. For example both anxiety and depression are often present at the same time in the same person, even though the Diagnostic Manuals classify them as separate disorders.  Over 60% of people with Eating Disorders also suffer from Depression and/or Anxiety.  Advances in the study and application of cognitive mechanisms is unravelling these problems.

The techniques used in Cognitive Therapy to treat mental health conditions have been under development and subjected to extensive testing over the past 40 years.

Cognitive Therapy has at its disposal a wide variety of techniques.  Many of the techniques are used by trained cognitive therapists within therapy sessions.  Some such as Mindful Meditation can be used within the therapy session, as well as practiced at home.  The goal of therapy is to teach clients to become their own therapists.  Cognitive Therapists teach clients the principles of cognitive therapy and encourage the use of techniques at home as homework.  The goal is for clients with mental health conditions to be able use the principles learned in therapy for life.