Hi Rona,
The idea behind CBT is that your thoughts affect your feelings and your behaviours. CBT helps you to sort out the differences between thoughts, feelings and behaviours and see how they link up in the different aspects of your life. There are lots of worksheets to use to help map what is happening for you, and lots of different strategies to help combat unhelpful patterns. CBT is about becoming aware of the way your thoughts, feelings and behaviours are all interlinked and how to spot when the unhelpful ones begin to arise so you can practice stopping them before they become overwhelming.
Certainly it is worth checking out with your GP whether you can go on a CBT course or something. :)
Yes cognitive therapy is very helpful. It takes work and it doesn't get better overnight. The immediate help is getting to talk and feel unburdened the long term effects is sorting out all your mixed up thoughts and emotions. It helps you to put some things behind you. Good luck.
CBT worked really well for me. Especially when I tried it with a group. We learned how to make small smart goals to get ourselves moving and doing activities we once use to do. We learned deep breathing and grounding techniques. We also learned some of the thought ruts we can get into when depressed.
Rona: CBT is cognitive behavioural thinking. Your gp can refer you to the mental health team in your area, it may be slightly different in Scotland, but basically start with GP. If the team think it would be helpful to,you, they will assign you a therapist. It's a talking therapy on a one to one basis. It's involved, but basically you explain your problems, how you think, how you react and the therapist will challenge the parts of your thinking process that seems to be out of key and give you strategies to change those thought patterns that are unhelpful to you and are keeping you from having a happy life. X
I have had CBT in the past, about 2008 and found it very useful. The therapist challenged some of my harmful beliefs which have stuck and reduced some of the anxieties. She also gave me strategies to question some of my more destructive thoughts and replace them with other constructive thoughts. It increased my self-esteem and really helped to talk through some difficulties. I then had it again in 2016, I found that less useful, I felt (know) the therapist made sweeping judgements about me, she even interrupted what I said with her assumptions, making me feel bad and left me feeling even worse about myself. So. I would say it depends on the therapist..most I have found are helpful, non-judgmental and sympathetic. But we don't always get on with everyone, don't stick it out with a therapist who makes you feel in any way bad.