Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy at the Paloma Centre
16/05/2012

http://www.thepalomacentre.com/

The Paloma Centre in Banbury is a personal growth and therapy centre which provides an holistic approach to emotional healing and personal development. We use aspects of psychotherapy and person-centred therapies aligned with hypnotic, EFT, NLP & Mindfulness techniques where appropriate. The aim of The Paloma Centre is to help clients find their own way of living their life in a more complete, satisfying and resourceful manner.

Therapies offered at the Paloma Centre include:

• Hypnotherapy
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
• Meridian Energy Therapies
• Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
• Counselling
• Life Coaching
• Psychotherapy
• Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EI or EQ)
• Alzheimer's Care

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as practised here at The Paloma Centre in Banbury aims to align more positively the way that you think (Cognitive) about yourself and the world around you and to consequently affect the way that you behave (Behavioural) towards yourself and others, thereby leading to a more acceptable way of your experiencing life (Therapy).

CBT is a very practical therapy that focuses on the "here and now" rather than looking in the past for the cause of your concern as do other "talking therapies".

We all see the world differently and, as a result, we therefore think about and react to it differently. The way that we think about the world around us determines the way that we “feel” about it and those feelings generate emotions in us. These emotions then dictate the way in which we behave in, or react to, the world. Where those feelings are negative they will give rise to equally negative emotions and negative ways of thinking about the world. This way of thinking can become habitual and thereby limit our enjoyment of life.

CBT aims to break the vicious circle of habitual negative thinking (or jumping to conclusions) which resultantly improves our emotive responses and which in turn leads to a more positive mental attitude, outlook and lifestyle. CBT provides you with a new, more constructive way of thinking about your concerns which also makes you self sufficient in dealing with them.

CBT has been found to be particularly helpful with:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Panic attacks
• Agoraphobia and other phobias
• Eating disorders
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

The NHS has announced an interest in using CBT more extensively for the treatment of Anxiety and Depression in particular. Hitherto these conditions would have been dealt with primarily through the use of pharmaceuticals such as anti-depressants alone.

CBT can be used either as a stand-alone therapy or in conjunction with other therapies and techniques such as Hypnotherapy, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to provide a more holistic approach to your concerns.

UKCP training requirements ensure that registered therapists are familiar and practised with the theories, processes and techniques of this highly effective therapy.

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a powerful blending of meditative practises and modern Cognitive Therapy techniques. Developed in the UK in recent years from an American stress management technique known as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the methodology has produced excellent results in trials conducted in the prevention of recurrence of depression and is now becoming an established therapeutic practise.

Depression manifests itself as negative thinking which leads to negative moods plus physical symptoms such as fatigue. When the episode of depression passes the sufferer returns to normal but unconsciously they have learned to associate those three things together - negative thoughts, negative moods and adverse physical symptoms. Consequently when one of those three elements recur, for whatever reason, it automatically triggers the others which then leads to another full blown depressive episode. It only takes a little to generate a lot, quite out of proportion to the triggering event. MBCT seeks to break the linkage between the three elements by allowing the sufferer to experience them in different ways.

Mindfulness is a method of meditation which does not require the emptying of the mind of thought as with many others but rather allows the mind to simply accept thoughts for what they are, just thoughts. They are not instructions, they are not facts, they are not you, they are simply thoughts and as such are not necessarily true, they are not instructions or orders, they are just thoughts. By accepting the thought stream in this manner it allows the individual to see them, and then react to them, in an entirely different way thereby breaking repetitive cycles of negativity, for example.

Elements of Cognitive Therapy are introduced to facilitate this different view. MBCT requires a commitment to a series of therapy sessions and practise between sessions to establish habitual new ways of dealing with troublesome thought patterns. MBCT requires discipline initially in the setting aside of time each day for practise. It is of course a practise which will have many uses in day to day life outside of the specific application in therapy, a lifetime’s skill.

At The Paloma Centre we use elements from MBCT blended with other therapies to produce effective, directed therapy for a range of issues.

01295 277 686 info@thepalomacentre.com

http://www.thepalomacentre.com/

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