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A TESTIMONIAL FROM SOPHIE ABOUT OCD

HOW COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY MADE A DIFFERENCE!

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stress at christmas allow for enjoyment By Matt Broadway-Horner Yes its here again and boy do we love it! But this comes with a mixed bag of goodies ranging from many pleasures and pressures placed upon this season of good will.

Stress what is it? Well it affects us in 3 areas. 1st it affects your thoughts and the more the thinking is negative then has a spiraling effect on behaviour and emotions.

The 2nd area is behaviour, it can disturb sleep, eating patterns, relationships and interfere in the way communication is delivered.

3rd and final area is emotions, feelings like anxiety, hurt, depression can become more common and leading to poor self care and an increase in comfort behaviours like eating

which then can increase weight. The cycle then continues with Negative Automatic Thoughts (NATs) about the weight gain and then an increase in self defeating behaviours.

How can I reduce my Stress? Well prioritize what is important to you this Christmas and look at the bigger picture when you list the priorities. Is it important to fight over the last Turkey in the supermarket or will it help you to be calm to have a none festive meal and enjoy the company of the people you are catering for? At the end of the day Christmas is meant to be a time for enjoying the company of others and reflect on the positive aspects of the year and looking forward to the next!

This month Stress at Christmas

Matt Broadway-Horner

A day in the life....

Matt Broadway-Horner

What is ACT? This being a new fresh approach developed with the CBT tradition

Matt Broadway-Horner

What is Social Phobia?what are the 3 areas that we need to know and understand in dealing with it? Knowing is half the battleMatt Broadway-Horner

Testimonial on her battle with OCD learn how she developed ideas to help her move forward and live life againSophie

CBT made a difference! Francesca

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I was on the plane recently sat next to the middle exit

door on the right side, I choose this location for the extra leg room. Just waiting for take off was on my mind when then my attention was caught up with the emergency lever and then “What if I pulled it” which made me laugh a little to myself but then when the stewards did all the safety checks ready for the flight my brain went into red alert. The plane had just took off and the stewards were going through the health and safety procedure for passengers when my mind said “go on pull it” “the whole plane will dive” and the urge was so great to pull it that I had the tendency to act to neutralise my anxiety by sitting on my hands but I chose not to and instead played with the notion by pretending to yawn and stretch arms out near to lever.

Guess what nothing happened and passengers arrived

safely at destination, but it occurred to me that all my work with OCD is beginning to rub off on me and that I ought to reduce my work load. That is one option but the other which sits more comfortably with me is to just understand that the mind has a 101 thoughts which are a mixture of good, mad, bad and dangerous but its passing traffic. Not every thought is fact, and indeed in one day the creative mind can pick up

many advertisements, colours, themes, ideas, words and emotions to name a few in any given moment. Think of

the mind as a little black box which are found on air craft, the box is used to collect data about the build up to a crash. If the mind collects data but then attach the criterion to it that would create and maintain OCD then life as you know it will start to reduce. But if another criterion is placed on it then maybe life will improve and the quality of it better.

The mind is not always useful and so my reaction after

my experiment was to laugh at myself for being so fearful in the beginning “there it is again my bloody mind.....thanks for that mind I really needed it.......NOT!

‘The plane had just took off and the stewards were going through the health and safety for passengers when my mind said “go on pull it” “the whole plane will dive” and the urge was so great to pull it that I had the tendency to act to neutralise my anxiety by sitting on my hands but I chose not to’

Matt Broadway-Horner

a day in the life of a therapist.. the human condition By Matt Broadway-Horner

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Pit stop.... exercise

By Matt Broadway-Horner The anger 4 step is one that can help in the stickiest of situations. This is a useful exercise when used at the point of return. This is the point of control not the point of no return and the anger has swept you away.

Walk away is step one, this being an excuse you make to step out of the situation, giving the other person an option “ Can we discuss this later?’ and then get calm using the attentional training exercise mentioned in the previous

newsletter. Then rethink and ask yourself the following questions :Q Am I fostering the relationship by acting this way? and Q2 Do I have more than one option here? If the answer to those questions is no then go back and get calm until you are able to see the bigger picture.

Once achieved then step 4 is to go back to the situation/person and give a response. And you might find out that when some time has elapsed that the issue is not important anymore and decide that its a waste of time getting angry and may help to rebuild relationships.

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what is acceptance and commitment therapy? an approach within the cbt tradition

By Matt Broadway-Horner ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) has acquired its name from the central message of accepting experiences which are outside of your personal control and beyond your means to enable any actions that may improve or better a situation or lifestyle

When using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) people can develop for themselves a better more meaningful living, while maintaining the ability to handle the stress and pains which everyone will experience at some time in there existence

Using Mindfulness based therapies your mind can taught the personal and physiological skills to deal with dark or difficult thought and feelings, making them less important and thus reducing the impact they have on your general living

ACT can help people see clearly in there mind and encourage what they truly believe are the important factors in life for a stable well being. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can inspire and motive your mind, clearing your thoughts from negative to positive thinking methods which will cleanse, inspire and motivate ones self, understanding and the disciplines required to move forward to a healthy mental progression and personal self change

Mindfulness based ACT

(Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) is different from the more traditional CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) as instead to challenging difficult, painful and distressing thoughts by challenging the problems. ACT employs a range of techniques which enables an individual to accept the thoughts and employ methods of Mindfulness, metaphors and language to reduce the concern and repetitive negative thought patterns.

The basics of Acceptance and

Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) treatments have been developed to train the mind in ways of observing your life experience at this present moment without judgement or fear. Mindfulness based ACT helps us protect, defuse and distance ones thoughts, reactions and sensations

ACT is, at its core the psychological and mental suffering which is most usually caused by cognitive entanglement, avoidance of an experience and the psychological stubbornness which may lead to a failure to take control and develop the required behavioural changes in accordance with core values

Core Principles of ACT: Creating a natural fusion with your thoughts Evaluation of each experience Avoidance of your experience Developing a reason giving towards your behaviour

Core Principles a healthy alternative is to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Accept your personal reactions and be present.

Building a path for change Confidence to take action for self improvement

ACT may be used in the treatment of many problems including addictions, anxiety, chronic pain, diabetes management, psychosis, stress, smoking and problems workplace

For more information concerning Acceptance and Commitment Therapy contact Mindfulness and the City with CBT in the City

Therapy : �Accept your personal

�Building a path for change �Confidence to take action for self improvement

ACT may be used in the treatment of many problems including addictions, anxiety, chronic pain, diabetes management, psychosis, stress, smoking and problems workplace

For more information concerning Acceptance and Commitment Therapy contact Mindfulness and the City with CBT in the City

Core Principles of ACT: Creating a natural fusion with your thoughts Evaluation of each experience Avoidance of your experience Developing a reason giving towards your behaviour

Matt Broadway-Horner

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This is an anxiety disorder that is a problem in social situations. Three components play a vital part in keeping the problem maintained and if left untreated can lead to a chronic disablement with some becoming housebound.

The first part is in the thought world. The sufferer will

hold negative predictions about the social event. They believe that they are boring and that others will also believe this, which may accompany other thoughts which they perceive will ultimately confirm that they are weird or will be rejected.

In order to make sure that rejection or being weird is

not confirmed the person will use Safety Seeking Behaviours. This is the second component and these behaviours are used to bring the Anxiety down, like e.g.

squeezing or holding tightly a glass-this with the sole aim to reduce the anxiety. These behaviours are vitally important to keeping the person safe and making sure that they are not under the spotlight from others people perceptions. If they are not under scrutiny then others will not think the worst and confirm their fears of being remembered as being boring or weird.

The third component is Anxiety and feeling this will

confirm they they look nervous and in public view. Others may see that they are blushing, sweating or shaking which will lead to others believing that they are anxious. And if anxious then they will look weird and or be rejected.

If you want to learn to overcome Social Phobia then

contact the clinic on 020 7558 8894 or email matt@cbtinthecity.com

what is social phobia? understanding is key By Matt Broadway-Horner

The third component is Anxiety and feeling this will confirm they they look nervous and in public view. Others may see that they are blushing, sweating or shaking which will lead to others believing that they are anxious. And if anxious then they will look weird and or be rejected.

Matt Broadway-Horner

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My name is Sophie. I'm in my mid-thirties, married with two children. I'm educated to post-graduate level and have worked for a number of large media organisations and government departments. All rather unremarkable, yet this is the type of situation I find myself in: I'm sitting on my friend Mel's sofa, having a chat and a cup of tea with her and her mum. Meanwhile our daughters are playing hospitals upstairs. The atmosphere is relaxed and cordial. After a while I need to get up and go to the loo, but as I stand up I can see myself picking up my tea cup and hurling the tepid contents all over Mel's horrified mother. And if that's not enough I kick her toddler son, who was sitting on the rug, across the floor. I don't know why I did it, I just lost control. A moment of madness. Just like the time when I pushed my young daughter down the stairs and grabbed her around the neck until she almost stopped breathing. Or the time I publicly accused my uncle of being a sex pest when I knew he was no such thing. Or the time, I spat in my boss's face. Totally vile and deplorable behaviour, but I couldn't help it. It was the absolutely last thing I wanted to do, but the thoughts crossed my mind so it must be mean I'll act on them, right? Wrong.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is not just

about cleaning, or counting, or hoarding. It can also take the form of repeated, unwanted, intrusive thoughts. In my case, the thoughts take the form of harming or upsetting others. A friend might have given me a present and the OCD thought will be: what if you threw it out of the window? Or if I'm alone, looking after my lovely daughter, the thought might be: what if you smothered her with that pillow? The thoughts are always awful and horrible. But the worry is what if I lost control and just did it? In a moment of craziness. The thoughts come and go, but normally I'll have at least one every day. Some days they bother me, some days they don't. When they bother me, I feel out of control and disturbed that my mind can conjure such horror with no effort at all. What kind of mind does that? What does it say about me? Do I have an inner psychopath struggling to get out? Can I be trusted? What makes me different from someone who thinks those kind of thoughts and someone who actually

carries them out? Well, what I do know is that these thoughts are

all about what I don't want to do. They are irrational and distressing. I know that the more I try and banish them from my mind, the more pervasive they will be. I know that avoiding a situation associated with the thought, will not help me in the long run. The avoidance will give me short-term relief, but in the long term, it will reinforce the notion that the situation is dangerous. So for instance, when my daughter was born, I was terrified that I might harm her. Knives in particular worried me greatly. What if, in a moment of uncontrollable madness, I hurt her with a knife? I'm embarrassed when I look back on it now, but it got to the point where I gathered up all the knives from the kitchen and threw them down the gutter outside our house. I was in turmoil. I didn't quite know what was wrong with me, but I really thought that I had started to lose the plot and I could not see a way out.

This is when I contacted a psychiatrist who

recommended cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Rather than seeking avoidance, my treatment involved facing the problem and feeling the anxiety that was associated with it. This exercise, or 'exposure' involved using knives to prepare food when I was alone with my daughter (I had to imagine that courgettes were baby arms!), watching slasher films, reading newspaper articles about people who had attacked others with knives, sleeping with a knife under the pillow, leaving sharp knives out on the counter all day, basically anything to induce that sense of anxiety that I was so determined to avoid. The point was that the anxiety-provoking situations became less painful and intense the more I was exposed to them. This was a practical way of helping me overcome the knife thoughts, as they no longer induced anxiety.

This is just an example of the CBT exercises

that I have done and still do. I'd recommend CBT to anyone with OCD. Don't let it take over your life.

For further information about treatment then

contact the clinic on 02075588894 or email matt@cbtinthecity.com

overcoming obsessive compulsive disorder a testimonial By Sophie

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what did cognitive behaviour therapy do for me! testimonial

By Francesca

I was referred for anxiety by the occupational health department but I did not know it was Generalised Anxiety Disorder or the worrying disease! I worried about everything and developed some hard and fast rules for living. These rules were about how others should treat me and these created a huge distance between me and others.

I did not invest time in making friends as I believed that they would let me down and I would really angry when they did the smallest thing wrong. I worried to show I cared but then the cares would be too many and I felt I was gonna go crazy. I was getting demoralised and would end up in tears often.

The therapy helped me to understand this cycle and what I understood helped me to stop worrying and allow life to ‘just be’. I realised that I cannot control other people and that I should allow my self to be happy and experience the moment without needing to know with absolute certainty what will happen next. It was the ‘what if.....’ that was causing my problem.

Now I enjoy life much more now and my partner has noticed a big difference and he is very grateful to the clinic.

For help with Generalised Anxiety Disorder then contact the clinic today on 020 7558 8894 0r email matt@cbtinthecity.com

CBTMONTHLY 10 Harley Street

London W1G 9PF

Matt Broadway-Horner Editor 10 Harley Street London W1G9PF

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