Let's Talk About CBT

In this episode, Helen is joined by Colin Blowers, James Jackson, and Hashir Aazh for a thoughtful conversation about tinnitus and how cognitive behavioural therapy can help. The panel draws on professional expertise and lived experience to explore what tinnitus is, why it can become distressing, and the importance of getting it checked. The conversation focuses on how CBT can support people to change their relationship with tinnitus, reduce distress, break unhelpful cycles of attention and anxiety, and live a full and meaningful life even when tinnitus is present. Key themes include acceptance, habituation, flare-ups, and why learning to manage reactions to tinnitus, rather than trying to eliminate it, can make a real difference. This episode will be helpful for anyone experiencing tinnitus, supporting someone who is, or interested in how CBT can help people live well with long-term conditions. Resources & Support: Helpful website: NHS information about tinnitus: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tinnitus/ More information about tinnitus can be found at Tinnitus UK World Tinnitus Congress- https://wtc2027.co.uk/ Books: Living Well with Tinnitus: A self-help guide using cognitive behavioural therapy- Hashir Aazh and Brian C.J. Moore Find more information about CBT- www.babcp.com Find our sister podcasts and all our other episodes in our podcast hub here: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Have feedback? Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram & Bluesky: @BABCPpodcasts Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was produced by Steph Curnow

In this episode, Helen is joined by Jackie and Professor Roz Shafran to explore loneliness through both lived experience and clinical psychology perspectives. Jackie shares her personal journey with anxiety, bereavement, and loneliness, describing how these experiences affected her mental health and led her to seek CBT support. She reflects on what helped, what was challenging, and how strategies such as goal setting and connection building continue to support her today. Roz Shafran, Emeritus Professor of Translational Psychology at UCL, offers a clear and compassionate overview of how loneliness is understood in research and clinical practice. The conversation explores the difference between loneliness and social isolation, how loneliness can affect people at different stages of life, and what effective interventions can look like. The discussion covers stigma around loneliness, access to support and why loneliness deserves to be taken seriously. Jackie and Roz also share practical advice for anyone who recognises themselves in the discussion and is considering reaching out for help. Resources & Support: If you or someone you know needs urgent help, reach out to Samaritans at 116 123 (UK) or visit samaritans.org We have more information on how you can find help and support on our Mental health support services page here: https://babcp.com/what-is-cbt/mental-health-support-services-information/https://babcp.com/what-is-cbt/mental-health-support-services-information/ The loneliness umbrella study mentioned by Roz is: Solmi, M., Veronese, N., Galvano, D., Favaro, A., Ostinelli, E.G., Noventa, V., Favaretto, E., Tudor, F., Finessi, M., Shin, J.I., Smith, L., Koyanagi, A., Cester, A., Bolzetta, F., Cotroneo, A., Maggi, S., Demurtas, J., De Leo, D. and Trabucchi, M. (2020). Factors Associated With Loneliness: An Umbrella Review Of Observational Studies. Journal of Affective Disorders, [online] 271, pp.131–138. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.075. Find more information about CBT- www.babcp.com Find our sister podcasts and all our other episodes in our podcast hub here: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Have feedback? Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram & Bluesky: @BABCPpodcasts Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was produced by Steph Curnow

In this episode, Helen Macdonald talks with CBT therapist Sally Tribe about the impact of menopause and how Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help. Sally shares her own experience of perimenopause, describes the wide range of symptoms people can experience, and explains how CBT can support those affected. The discussion covers the biological, psychological, and social aspects of menopause, the importance of awareness in workplaces and healthcare, and what reasonable adjustments and compassionate understanding can look like. They also talk about the latest guidance from NICE, how to access CBT through the NHS or private routes, and why no two menopause experiences are the same. Useful Information The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) is the lead organization for CBT in the UK. Find a NHS Talking Therapies service here Read the article by Sally on the menopause here Get in Touch If you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, please email the Let's Talk About CBT team at [email protected]. You can also follow us on Instagram and BlueSky at @BABCPPodcasts. Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen to our sister podcasts: Let's Talk About CBT - Practice Matters and Let's Talk About CBT - Research Matters. Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This podcast was edited by Steph Curnow

It's World Mental Health Day 2025, and this year's theme is 'access to services - mental health in catastrophes and emergencies'. The theme highlights the importance of people being able to protect their mental health in times of global instability. In this special episode of Lets' Talk about CBT, Helen Macdonald speaks with Kerry Young, a consultant clinical psychologist specialising in PTSD, particularly among asylum seekers and refugees. They discuss the impact of trauma on mental health, the challenges faced by asylum seekers in accessing mental health services, and the importance of community support. The conversation also touches on the role of interpreters in therapy, barriers to accessing services, and positive developments in mental health support for asylum seekers. Useful Information The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) is the lead organization for CBT in the UK. For those interested in supporting or learning more, Kerry suggests looking up: Freedom from Torture, the Helen Bamber Foundation, Breaking Barriers, Host Nation and The Refugee Council More information from the European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies can be found here Find translated health information from Doctors of the World here and translated mental health information from the Royal College of Psychiatrists here Links to services by region: Find a NHS Talking Therapies service here Wales: https://sanctuary.gov.wales/refugeesandasylumseekers/healthandwellbeing# https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/programmes/refugee-programmes/refugee-and-asylum-seekers-wales Scotland: https://scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk/health/#Mentalhealthsupport Northern Ireland: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/research/journey-wellbeing-refugees-transport-and-mental-health-northern-ireland Ireland: https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/primarycare/socialinclusion/intercultural-health/mental-health-supports/ Get in Touch If you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, please email the Let's Talk About CBT team at [email protected]. You can also follow us on Instagram and BlueSky at @BABCPPodcasts. Remember to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen to our sister podcasts: Let's Talk About CBT - Practice Matters and Let's Talk About CBT - Research Matters. Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF

Ever heard of low Intensity CBT and wondered what it was all about? Or what it would be like to receive it? In this episode of Let's Talk about CBT, Helen talks to Laura Stevenson-Young, a cognitive behavioural therapist and Director of Low Intensity CBT Clinical Training at Newcastle University and Emily who shares her lived experience of low intensity cognitive behavioural therapy. Together, they explore what low intensity CBT is, what it's like to receive it, and how it can empower people to take control of their mental health. Emily talks candidly about the challenges that led her to seek help, including grief, anxiety, fertility concerns and low self-esteem. She describes the impact of low intensity CBT on her life, and the practical tools she still uses today. Laura explains how this type of therapy works, who it's for, and why it can be so effective. Resources & Support Find an NHS Talking Therapies service: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services/find-nhs-talking-therapies-for-anxiety-and-depression/ More about CBT and BABCP: https://www.babcp.com Find our sister podcasts and all our other episodes in our podcast hub here: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Have feedback? Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram & Bluesky: @BABCPpodcasts Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was produced by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen Macdonald, your host. I'm the Senior Clinical Advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. Hello and welcome. Today, I've got Emily and Laura with me and we're going to be talking about low intensity CBT, what that is and what it's like to be on the receiving end. But first, I'm going to ask you both to introduce yourselves. Emily? Emily: Hi, yeah, thank you for having me. I'm Emily, I live in Yorkshire with my fiancé. And in November 2022, I reached out to my local mental health service for a number of reasons, which I'm sure we'll cover in this podcast. I began with a four-week introduction to CBT program, which was in a group setting online. That was in December. And then by January, I began my CBT therapy and yeah, it was one of the best things I've done. Helen: Thanks, Emily. And Laura. Laura: Hi, Helen. Thanks for having us and Emily. So, I'm Laura Stevenson-Young. I'm a cognitive behavioral therapist and Director of Low Intensity CBT Clinical Training at Newcastle University. So this means that I train practitioners to deliver low intensity CBT interventions for many different types of mental health problems, namely depression and low mood, generalized anxiety disorder, panic, OCD and some other problems that can really affect the quality of people's lives such as stress or sleep difficulties and long-term health conditions. So I trained as a low intensity CBT therapist, mostly known as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner or PWP for short, well over a decade ago. And I then went on to further CBT training and became a clinical trainer in low intensity CBT. So this is probably really going to come out today, but I'm a real advocate for low intensity CBT, the practitioners who deliver it. I'm so passionate about the work that they do and how they empower people to manage their own mental health within NHS Talking Therapies. Helen: Thanks Laura. So Emily, you said there were a number of things that led to you reaching out to the local mental health services. And I wonder if you're willing to tell us a bit more about what was going on? Emily: Yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, kind of looking back, I should have done it a lot earlier than I did. It was kind of a lot of things building up over probably a couple of years. My mood definitely was low after losing my granddad and then with different job roles, kind of things to do with that, it was an ongoing thing. And then in 2022, that's when I'd gained a lot of weight, I was losing a lot of confidence, and I was letting a lot of stress at work get on top of me, which then had an impact on my relationship. And then obviously we were just coming out of lockdown as well. So I think that had a massive impact on my mental health. It was definitely, there was a lot of low mood and also anxiety around all I wanted to do was see friends and family, but the thought of doing that was actually making me incredibly anxious and busy places were making me anxious, new surroundings were causing kind of panic attacks. We'd gone on a trip and we were getting on a plane kind of in 2022 and I had a full panic attack getting on the plane. And there was nothing within my brain that was pinpointing what exactly it was. But I think...overriding the kind of that sadness and th

In this episode, Helen Macdonald speaks with Chris Frederick- advocate, suicide survivor, founder of Project Soul Stride, and self-described "Mental Health Jedi." Chris shares his deeply personal journey, from childhood trauma and racial adversity to becoming a mental health advocate and what helped his recovery- and the things that didn't. Resources & Support: If you or someone you know needs urgent help, reach out to Samaritans at 116 123 (UK) or visit samaritans.org Brent Recovery College- https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/services/recovery-and-wellbeing-college The Listening Place- https://listeningplace.org.uk/ James' Place- https://www.jamesplace.org.uk/ Find more information about CBT- www.babcp.com Find our sister podcasts and all our other episodes in our podcast hub here: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Have feedback? Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram & Bluesky: @BABCPpodcasts Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was produced by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen Macdonald, your host. I'm the Senior Clinical Advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. Today I'm speaking with Chris Frederick. I'm absolutely delighted to have him here with me in the studio. He's going to share about his personal history and some difficult experiences that he had in his earlier life. How he ended up looking for help with his mental health and some of the things that helped as well as some of the things that were less helpful and how he's then started using his lived experience to help inform professionals, services and members of the general public about what helps and what helps people to access the kind of support that they need. He's also going to tell us how he ended up being known as the mental health Jedi. Chris, would you just like to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about who you are? Chris: So my full name is Chris Frederick. Born and bred in London, currently living in northwest London. I guess I like to introduce myself. Firstly, is I'm a suicide attempt survivor. I think it's important to get that out there. I'm an advocate and founder of Project Soul Stride, which we'll touch on a little bit later. And, also I'm a mad Star Wars fan. Helen: Oh, fantastic. And you've just mentioned a couple of things, really important things about your background and who you are. Is there anything else that you'd be happy to tell people listening today about your background and challenges or barriers that you've experienced? Chris: I mean I guess if I backtrack to the story that, that brought me to that point, very quickly in the barriers, because they might be things that listeners would identify with. I'm a twin, I'm 55. Growing up for us in the early seventies was a tough time. We lived as a small family of four in a flat in a council estate in Wembley and due to the pressures that my father and my mother who were very young, they were only 19 and 18, and they'd not long been in the UK from the Caribbean. So they themselves were carrying their own baggage, their own trauma, their own legacy and that transferred, I guess, onto us as young children. My father was a very strict, sort of military type figure. A beautiful looking man- if you put a picture of Muhammad Ali at his prime and my father at his prime, they could almost be twins, brothers, because that's how you know, he was tall, statuesque, beautiful green eyes, but on the downside, he had a heavy hand. And you know what I mean by that Helen, he had a heavy hand. He was quite, he was an intimidating character. And that manifested itself in negative behaviour in the house, physical abuse of various descriptions. And we grew up watching and witnessing and being victim of that as we grew up, and this is all within a black community. And then we moved at the age of 11, we upped sticks and moved to Chislehurst, which was a suburb of Kent. So imagine now we've moved from an all sort of majority ethnic community to now an ethnic minority community where we were the only black family on the street. Elms Street Avenue number 60, remember it well. Went to Kenmore Manor, and I remember for the first three years we were two of only five non-white pupils in the entire school. So without going into too much detail, you could also now begin to identify with the certain trends, the recurring themes, the racism of course, the pressures from my family. My parents eventually split up and divorced. My relationship with my twin eventually split. And so we ended up the complete, the family was completely fractured and still is today. And you bundle all that up. I started to experience mental ill health probably at the a

In this latest episode of Let's Talk About CBT, host Helen Macdonald is joined by two international guests- Tafi Mazikana and Sherrie Steyn who share their journey from CBT service user and therapist to CBT innovators. Tafi, originally from Zimbabwe, opens up about his experiences with anxiety while working in a high-pressured job in finance and how a digital CBT intervention through IAPT (now known as NHS Talking Therapies) changed his life. He talks candidly about the cultural stigma around mental health, what it was like to try therapy for the first time, and his realisation that CBT is about learning practical, empowering skills. We also hear from Sherrie, a clinical and community psychologist from South Africa and co-founder of the Vimbo Health app along with Tafi. She reflects on her friendship with Tafi, the surprising conversations that sparked their collaboration, and the importance of culturally adapted therapy. Together, they describe how Vimbo Health was developed to meet the unique challenges and needs of people in South Africa, particularly in terms of language, cultural metaphors, accessibility, and affordability. They explore how therapy can be made more relevant and relatable, from replacing metaphors like "three-legged stools" with potjie pots to tackling barriers like mobile data costs and mental health stigma. Whether you're a therapist or someone curious about accessing help in a different way, this conversation shines a light on how CBT can be tailored, inclusive, and transformative. Resources & Links: Learn more about Vimbo Health: https://www.vimbohealth.com/ Information on CBT and how to find a therapist If you or someone you know needs urgent help, reach out to Samaritans at 116 123 (UK) or visit samaritans.org Find our sister podcasts and all our other episodes in our podcast hub here: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Have feedback? Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram & Bluesky: @BABCPpodcasts Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was produced by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen Macdonald, your host. I'm the Senior Clinical Advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. I'm absolutely delighted today to have some international guests for you. And in a moment, I'm going to ask, Tafi and Sherrie to introduce themselves. We're going to be talking with them about the experience of having CBT and then some really exciting developments that have happened since. But first, let's start with some introductions. Tafi, would you like to tell people who you are? Tafi: Yes, definitely. Thank you, Helen, really a pleasure to be with you today on this podcast. So I'm Tafi Mazikana and I'm Co-founder and CEO of Vimbo Health, a metal health app that's operating mostly out of South Africa. My background as I've shared, is not as a practitioner. My background is as a patient, of CBT who became very curious, perhaps too curious. So I was living in the UK working in banking and finance, and I was just very lucky to come across the services of IAPT which allowed me to self-refer in this area of mental health. I never knew that one could actually reach out and do something, so that was game changing in itself. But I was offered to have a digital CBT intervention, which was very transformative for me but obviously just left question marks as someone born and raised in Africa to say, well, who's thinking about the African context? Because, as I'll share later, there are things and ways of thinking and speaking that are different and I was just curious about who is going to think about that. And so became more and more involved, in this area of CBT, and in particular digital CBT. Helen: Thank you so much, Tafi. There's lots that we're going to talk about there. Before we start that though, Sherrie, can I ask you to introduce yourself please? Sherrie: Hi Helen. Thank you for having me. My name is Sherrie Steyn and I am from South Africa. I'm actually very fortunate to be from the East coast, so the sunny side, and my background is in clinical and community psychology. I tend towards the behavioural types of psychology. So I've done some ABA or as we call it VBA now and of course a special interest in CBT. So having done that clinical and community psychology, I then went on to do one of the allied CBT training courses through UCL. So I was very fortunate, to have done that. And that's a little bit about my background and, yes, I'm also the co-founder and CSO of Vimbo, I like to say I'm the science, because it sounds cool and yeah, just very happy to be here and share some of our experiences with you today. Helen: Thank you so much. So if I

In this episode of Let's Talk About CBT, Helen Macdonald speaks with Phil Cooper, mental health nurse and co-founder of the charity State of Mind Sport, and Ian Knott, former professional rugby league player and State of Mind presenter. Phil shares how State of Mind was born out of tragedy and developed into an award-winning mental fitness programme, now reaching thousands of athletes across the UK and beyond. Ian talks candidly about his experience of severe injury, depression, and suicidal thoughts after retiring from sport, and how CBT helped him to rebuild his life. We hear how sports settings are being used to break down stigma, encourage conversations, and promote mental health support—particularly among men—and how brief interactions and powerful personal stories can save lives. Resources & Links: State of Mind Sport website Information on CBT and how to find a therapist If you or someone you know needs urgent help, reach out to Samaritans at 116 123 (UK) or visit samaritans.org Find our sister podcasts and all our other episodes in our podcast hub here: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Have feedback? Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram & Bluesky: @BABCPpodcasts Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was produced by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen MacDonald, your host. I'm the senior Clinical Advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Today what we've got for you is an episode about mental health, mental fitness and sports, and I've got Phil and Ian here to talk to me today. Phil, will you just introduce yourself? Phil: My name's Phil Cooper. I'm a mental health nurse by background. I used to work as a nurse consultant in mental health and drug and alcohol misuse. I love sport. And, for some strange reason or quirk of random chaos, I became to be one of the co-founders of State of Mind Sport charity that focuses on mental fitness. Helen: Thank you, Phil. Ian, please, will you introduce yourself? Ian: My name's Ian Knott. I'm a former rugby league professional and I currently am a presenter for State of Mind. I talk about my story, my lived experience of having to retire through a serious injury and then developing mental illness. So I talk about that. Helen: Thanks very much, Ian, and I'm sure our listeners will want to hear more about that later in this episode. Firstly though, can I ask Phil to tell us a bit more? Phil, will you tell us about State of Mind and how it came to be and what it does? Phil: Sure State of Mind Sport began unfortunately on the back of a tragedy within the sport of rugby league, where a Great Britain Rugby League international called Terry Newton, unfortunately took his own life in September, 2010. Sent great shock waves, I think, through the whole sport for such a high profile player. At the time there was relatively little support or mental health support for players at that time. I suppose as a mental health nurse who loves rugby league and sport, I read a league paper on a Monday morning, somebody wrote an article saying how the NHS and the sport should get together to try and prevent suicide. Also, somebody also wrote a letter, again a mental health professional, called Malcolm Rae and Ernie Benbow had written the article and I saw this and thinking, wow, this is Monday morning, I shall write these two individuals- checked with my chief exec, of course, because obviously you have to be doing all these things- and then invited them to a meeting we were going to have in good old health style a conference, that soon changed when we invited a couple of players such as Ian, and they suggested, why didn't we ask the governing body for a round of fixtures to promote mental health at that time or mental fitness. I then found myself in the strange position being ferried to Hull Kingston Rovers Ground to be presented before all the chief execs of all the top divisions with clubs to say, this is a really good idea. It's free. So the sport love that bit and, we'll deliver a session to your players before the season and then a round of fixtures themed around that. So we had a State of Mind round in 2011 and player bought into it. There was very little support, as I said, and they began to talk about it on social media. They wore t-shirts in the warmup before the round of fixtures, but crucially, they knew what it was about, and they were all bought in. Things have grown massively since that time, which has been great for us. And also promoting mental fitness in rugby league, one of the toughest sports on the planet. Helen: Thank you Phil. So can you tell us a little bit more about what you really mean by mental

In this special episode celebrating World CBT Day 2025, we explore this year's theme: CBT: A Solid Return on Investment. Host Helen Macdonald, Senior Clinical Advisor at BABCP, is joined by a range of voices reflecting on the impact, value, and future of CBT. We hear from: Dr. Adrian Whittington, National Clinical Lead for Psychological Professions at NHS England, about the rollout and outcomes of NHS Talking Therapies. Dr. Stirling Moorey, BABCP President, on the historical development of CBT and its increasing relevance and recognition over the decades. Nic, a former CBT client, who shares how therapy helped him manage anxiety linked to a long-term health condition. Dr. Saiqa Naz, past president of BABCP, who discusses her personal journey into CBT and her commitment to inclusion, diversity, and working with underrepresented communities This episode offers a rich blend of lived experience, clinical insight, and future vision, showing how CBT continues to be a wise investment for individuals, services, and society as a whole. Further information and links: Visit BABCP to learn more about CBT Find support via NHS Talking Therapies Discover more about World CBT Day Find our sister podcasts and all our other episodes in our podcast hub here: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Have feedback? Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram & Bluesky: @BABCPpodcasts Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This podcast was produced by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen Macdonald, your host. I'm the Senior Clinical Advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. Welcome to this special episode of Let's Talk about CBT celebrating World CBT Day. World. CBT Day takes place every year on the 7th of April, and this year's theme is CBT: A Solid Return on Investment. In this episode, we're exploring just what that means- I will be speaking with Adrian Whittington, who's the National Clinical Lead for Psychological Professions at NHS England and with Stirling Moorey, who's our current BABCP President about how CBT has developed over time and the importance of continued investment in it. We'll also hear a personal story from Nic, who is a former client of Stirling's, who shares how CBT helped him manage anxiety and improve his quality of life. Finally, I sit down with Saiqa Naz who is past president of BABCP to talk about her journey into CBT from starting out in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services, to completing a clinical psychology doctorate, and how she embodies the idea of CBT being a real return on investment. We hope you enjoy this episode and the range of voices reflecting on the impact and value of CBT. Let's get started! Here's my conversation with Adrian and Stirling…. Adrian, would you introduce yourself please? Adrian: Yes. Hi. I am Adrian Whittington. I'm National Clinical Lead for Psychological Professions at NHS England, which means within England I'm the professional lead for psychologists, psychological therapists, and psychological practitioners. Helen: Thank you, Stirling, please introduce yourself. Stirling: Hi, I'm Stirling Moorey. I am currently the president of the BABCP and I'm a retired psychiatrist and really have been around in the CBT world since 1979. So, Adrian is speaking about CBT today and in the UK particularly and I'll just give a bit of a view of what it's been like to be in the CBT world for this length of time. Helen: Thank you very much. And so Stirling, if we come to you first, that's a long career- you must have seen a lot of developments over the years. Tell us a bit about what you've seen and how things have developed. Stirling: Indeed, I mean, so right at the very beginning when I was a medical student, cognitive therapy was just being invented. And so we had BT, Behaviour Therapy, but not the CBT that we have today. And so it was quite sort of revolutionary. The behaviour therapists look down their nose a little bit at it, the psychoanalytic therapists very much looked down their nose, and I remember at one point talking to a psychoanalyst who told me that being a CBT therapist was a bit like playing a tin whistle compared to being a concert violinist. I think things have changed since then. So, over the years, what's happened is that really from the work of pioneers like Isaac Marks in behaviour therapy, Aaron Beck in cognitive therapy, for the first time psychotherapists started to actually address what evidence do we have that this works? And using randomised control trials. And this has been really powerful. It was revolutionary at the time because people thought you couldn't manualise therapy but Beck and others mana

In this episode of Let's Talk About CBT, Helen Macdonald speaks with James from the charity Gambling with Lives about the serious impact of gambling addiction, its links to mental health, and the role of CBT in recovery. What We Cover in This Episode: 🔹 How gambling has changed – From a backstreet niche to an industry making billions through addictive products. 🔹 Gambling addiction and mental health – How gambling harms go beyond financial loss and can lead to depression, anxiety, and even suicide. 🔹 The neuroscience of gambling – How gambling rewires the brain, making it difficult to stop. 🔹 Recognising the warning signs – What to look for in yourself or a loved one. 🔹 The role of CBT in recovery – How cognitive behavioural therapy is a key treatment approach in NHS gambling addiction services. 🔹 Breaking the stigma – Why gambling addiction is not just about personal responsibility and we need to talk about how it can harm people and the amount of gambling advertising that is out there. 🔹 Getting help – Resources for those affected, including training for healthcare professionals. Resources & Links: Find out more about Gambling with Lives: gamblingwithlives.org Visit Chapter One for training and resources: chapter-one.org NHS gambling support services: NHS gambling support If you or someone you know needs urgent help, reach out to Samaritans at 116 123 (UK) or visit samaritans.org Find our sister podcasts and all our other episodes in our podcast hub here: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Have feedback? Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram & Bluesky: @BABCPpodcasts Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was edited by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen Macdonald, your host. I'm the Senior Clinical Advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Welcome to today's episode. I'm really pleased to have James with me today. He's from an organisation called Gambling with Lives, and I will ask him first to introduce himself. Hello, James. James: Hi Helen, thank you for having me on. I'm James. I live in Stockport, originally from Norfolk, hence I haven't got a Northern accent, but I'm here today representing the charity Gambling with Lives. The charity was set up by bereaved families who'd lost loved ones to gambling related suicide and I now oversee our prevention work, which includes education, training, information, and resources. And a lot of that stems from my own lived experience of a 12-year gambling addiction, which started as a young person, and which I'm sure we'll touch on today. Helen: Thank you, James. And so I'm very aware that a charity that's been very much grounded in the experiences of bereaved families, there's going to be some difficult things to talk about here. And just to say for our listeners, there will be links to where to find help and support on the show page and as well as anything that we talk about during today's episode. So can I ask you just to tell us a little bit more about gambling? What is it? You know, how people might get themselves into trouble with it, maybe? James: Yeah, it's a big question. And the first answer that comes to my head is that gambling is not what it was. I think a lot of people have a perception of what gambling is, and that's a weekly bet at the horses or going to the bingo on a Thursday night, or the football pools. Gambling has absolutely transformed over the last 10, 20, 30 years. And it all really started from a point in 2005 when the Gambling Act was created by the Labour government at the time, which changed gambling from being this thing that was, you know, quite hidden, quite behind closed doors, wasn't promoted, was quite hard to go and do, wasn't that easy or available or accessible, and that Gambling Act changed that completely and allowed for relentless advertising, sponsorship, marketing, and allowed for bookmakers in the high street to have really addictive electronic machines in their premises. And they were things like the fixed odds betting terminals, which were roulette machines, which at the time were called the crack cocaine of gambling because they were that addictive. And that was not what gambling was. I remember when I was a child, in our town, I'm from a quite a sleepy, small town in Norfolk. And the bookies in our town used to be this like really dingy, horrible place to be honest behind in a back alley that I used to walk past it and think I'm never going in there, that is a place not for me. It's for old men, smoke coming out the doors, did not have any interest in that. But then when I was 16, which was a couple of years after this Gambling Act, it changed int

In this episode, Helen talks with Lizzie, a beauty content creator and disability advocate, and Bex, a CBT therapist, about Lizzie's journey navigating living with long term health conditions, trauma and the transformative impact of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Lizzie shares her experiences living with Crohn's disease, POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), and hypermobility spectrum disorder, alongside the emotional challenges of managing these conditions. She discusses her initial scepticism about therapy and how CBT helped her address anxiety, PTSD, and prioritising her own well-being. Bex offers insights into the therapeutic process, addressing common misconceptions about CBT, and highlights the importance of building trust and tailoring therapy to individual needs. Together, they discuss the interaction between physical and mental health and strategies for balancing driven lifestyles with well-being. Useful links: Explore Lizzie's content on Instagram and TikTok (@slaywithsparkle). Listen to our sister podcasts: Let's Talk About CBT - Practice Matters and Let's Talk About CBT - Research Matters: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/babcppodcasts/ Learn more about CBT www.babcp.com Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was edited by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen Macdonald, your host. I'm the Senior Clinical Advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies What we've got for you today is a conversation with Lizzie and Bex. Lizzie's going to talk about her experiences of having CBT and living with a number of conditions that she'll tell us more about in the episode. We're going to talk to Bex, who is a CBT therapist, and she's going to talk with us about working with Lizzie as well. Welcome to you both. Lizzie, would you like to introduce yourself? Lizzie: Hello! Thank you so much for having me. So as Helen's just said, my name is Lizzie. I am also a beauty content creator known as @slaywithsparkle on Instagram and TikTok and a little bit of YouTube and I'm also a speaker that talks about disability awareness. And I try and raise awareness about the health conditions I've got and general sort of disability awareness and activism about that. Helen: Thank you Lizzie, and welcome. Thank you for coming to talk to us today. And Bex, would you like to tell our listeners about you? Bex: Hi. Yes, I'm Bex. I'm a CBT therapist and worked with Lizzie a little time ago, when I worked in a physical health service for IAPT at the time. And I currently work more with trauma in Sheffield both in the NHS and privately. Helen Thank you, Bex. And maybe I should just say, when you said IAPT, we're now talking about NHS Talking Therapies. Bex: That's right. Yes. Thank you for providing the update. Helen: So Lizzie, can I ask you a bit about what was happening for you? What was going on that meant you ended up having CBT? Lizzie: So for me, I really had quite a negative opinion about any sort of talking therapy and had very much been brought up with the idea that if you have some sort of mental health problem, you should be able to solve it yourself. And if you just think positively and carry on, then everything should be fine. Because of my health conditions, so I will just mention just briefly so people are aware what my health conditions are just for context. So I have, Crohn's disease, which I was diagnosed with when I was 21 and then later about 9- 10 years later, I was diagnosed with hypermobile spectrum disorder and also POTS, which is a condition that affects my blood pressure and heart rate. And when I had a first flare of Crohn's disease. I'd obviously had it a long time without realising, but when I first flared with Crohn's disease, I really struggled with the concept of having a physical health condition that I couldn't push through. So with my Crohn's, I ended up ignoring a lot of the doctor's advice because I had this idea that I should be able to cure myself. I really pushed myself to look at alternative therapies. And then, because of that, I ended up ignoring what the doctor said and becoming a lot more ill. Unfortunately, because of a combination of the Crohn's having been misdiagnosed for a long time as IBS, and then because of all of those sorts of ideas about that I should be able to cure myself, my Crohn's did get so bad that I ended up having to go to hospital and have emergency surgery on my bowel. Years later, so about two or three years later, I started having real panic attacks, which I'd never had before. I was anxious all the time and I couldn't sleep. I would sometimes wake up in the m

In this episode of Let's Talk About CBT, Helen Macdonald speaks with Pete Moore, author and creator of The Pain Toolkit, about his journey of living with long-term pain. Pete shares his experiences of how he was able to move from being overwhelmed by pain to learning CBT techniques and strategies which helped him learn to manage it effectively, regain control, and even help others do the same. Useful links: The Pain Toolkit website Live well with pain website Listen to our sister podcasts: Let's Talk About CBT - Practice Matters and Let's Talk About CBT - Research Matters: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/babcppodcasts/ Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was edited by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen Macdonald, your host. I'm the Senior Clinical Advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Today, I'm speaking with Pete Moore, who'll be sharing with us his journey living with long term pain. Many years ago, Pete took part in an inpatient pain management program, which among other things uses cognitive and behavioural techniques to learn how to manage long term symptoms of pain. Pete will tell us about his journey and where he is today in not only managing his own pain and staying active, but also how he helps other people to learn key ways of living successfully with long term pain. Pete, would you like to introduce yourself to our listeners? Pete: Yes, well, hi everyone. My name's Pete Moore and I'm the author and originator of the Pain Toolkit. I just want to say, Helen, thanks very much for inviting me along to do this podcast and I'm really looking forward to having a chat with you. Helen: That's great. Thank you very much, Pete. I think a good place to start would be if I ask you just to tell me a bit about how you ended up living with long term pain. Pete: Yeah, it's, such a familiar story actually that of mine. Back then in the early nineties, I had back pain and such and I used to sort of manage it by taking over the counter medication, et cetera, or just having a rest. But I didn't really do a lot to help myself. I didn't really know what to do with it. I just, you know, it's like most people just get on with life. But I think it was about 92, back then I was a painter and decorator, and I was painting a house over in Windsor Castle. Anyway, I went home that night and the next day I couldn't get out of bed. I found out later on that I'd prolapsed some discs in my back, I think, two in the lower, and one in the middle. And I was pretty scared, really frightened, et cetera. And I found it difficult even going to the GP, really. And anyway, long story short, I was given medication and anti inflammatories but little was I to know that back then there was, you know, managing back pain or managing pain itself was like being put in something called the medical model. And I wasn't really given any guidance around what I could do for myself. It was just, "take these pills. If they haven't worked, come back and see me". So I wasn't quite on Christmas card terms with the GP, but, you know, I was around there every month or so. Anyway, I had to stop working et cetera. And for me, movement was more pain. So I stopped moving. I was sent to the physiotherapist, but back then I don't think that they was quite well up to speed with managing pain or back pain and I was given exercises to do and which say do 10 of these, 10 of these, 15 of those and, and as you know yourself, when you've got subacute pain, as I did, then, I've got up to five or six repetitions and the pain went up so much I thought this can't be right. So, to me, I learned that, back then the exercise equalled more pain. So I just stopped moving. Helen: So I'm hearing you got lots of back pain. You did what most people would do, which is go and see your GP and you got prescribed medicines. And you said, medical models. So it's very much, you go and see somebody and they're going to prescribe some treatment and you expect to get better. But what you're telling me is that the medicines, the physiotherapy actually ended up probably not helping very much. And actually you were still struggling with the pain. And you also said that you were really scared as well. Pete: I guess I couldn't see any future for myself really and I was getting depressed and I just, I had no plan, you know, that was it and at the time I was only I think in my mid-forties, something like that back then. And I thought what's my future? I couldn't see any future for myself, and I went through a pretty, pretty sticky time really, you know. People that used to call and say how you doi

In this episode of Let's Talk About CBT, host Helen Macdonald speaks with Sarah, Sally, and Leanne about Sarah's experience of having Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) after giving birth. They explore how CBT helped Sarah regain control during a challenging postnatal period, addressing struggles such as insomnia, anxiety, and adjusting to new motherhood. Sarah shares her journey of balancing therapy with the therapeutic benefits of movement and time spent in nature. CBT therapists Sally and Leanne discuss the powerful combination of therapy, physical activity, and connecting with nature for improving mental health. Useful links: NHS Choices- Insomnia-https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/insomnia/ NHS Guidance on feeling depressed after childbirth: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/support-and-services/feeling-depressed-after-childbirth/ MIND information on how nature can help mental health: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/nature-and-mental-health/how-nature-benefits-mental-health/ For more on CBT the BABCP website is www.babcp.com Accredited therapists can be found at www.cbtregisteruk.com Listen to more episodes from Let's Talk About CBT here. Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was produced and edited by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen MacDonald, your host. I'm the senior clinical advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Today I'm very pleased to have Sarah, Sally and Leanne here to talk with me about having CBT, in Sarah's case, when you've recently had a baby and also the value of getting more active and getting outside into nature and how that can help when you're also having CBT. Sarah, would you like to introduce yourself, please? Sarah: Hi, I'm Sarah. I'm, 37 from Sheffield and like I said, just recently had a baby, and she's absolutely wonderful. She is a happy, loud little bundle of joy. I ended up having CBT though, because the experience of having the baby wasn't what I thought it was going to be, I think is the reason. And I, just went a little bit mad, so I got some help. Yeah, I'm normally a very happy, positive, active person. Lots of friends, very sociable, always like to be doing things, always like to be in control and have a plan. I like to know what I'm doing and what everyone else is doing. And all that changed a little bit and I didn't really know what to do about it. So yeah, got some therapy. Helen: Thank you Sarah. So, we'll talk with you a bit more about what that was like. And first, Sally, would you like to just briefly say who you are? Sally: Yeah, so I'm, my name's Sally. I am a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, working both in the NHS and in, in private practice at the moment. Helen: Thank you. And Leanne, Leanne: Hi, I'm Leanne. and I'm a cognitive behavioural therapist as well. And I also work in the NHS and in private practice with Sally. Helen: Thank you all very much. What we're going to do is ask Sarah to tell us a bit more about, when you use the term mad, perhaps I could ask you to say a little bit more about what was happening for you that made you look for some therapy. Sarah: Wel the short answer to that is I developed insomnia about 12 weeks postnatally, didn't sleep for five days. Baby was sleeping better than most, you know, so it was equally frustrating because there was no real reason I didn't think that I should be awake. And sleep obviously is very important when you've had a baby. As I said, I like to be in control, like to prepare, like to know what's going on. So I did hypnobirthing, I prepared, I planned, I packed the biggest suitcase for this birth of this baby that I was really excited for and I thought I'd prepared mentally for every eventuality- what kind of birth, what would happen afterwards, but all very physical because they're the sorts of things that I could understand and imagine. And basically I ended up having an emergency C section, which in the moment I was fine with and I didn't think I was bothered by it, but the level of pain afterwards, that then again affected my level of control over looking after the baby. And the level of debilitation it created that I wasn't expecting- this is the key thing, I wasn't expecting it. That meant that I wasn't able to be me, really. I wasn't able to not least look after a baby, but get myself dressed, get myself showered, walk to the shop, drive a car, play netball, walk my dog. And I wasn't able to do any of that. I didn't appreciate that I was struggling with that, with accepting that. And because it went on for so long, and of course with this comes the baby blues that everyone talks about, but that's mea

We're back! Let's Talk about CBT has been on hiatus for a little while but now it is back with a brand-new host Helen Macdonald, the Senior Clinical Advisor for the BABCP. Each episode Helen will be talking to experts in the different fields of CBT and also to those who have experienced CBT, what it was like for them and how it helped. This episode Helen is talking to one of the BABCP's Experts by Experience, Paul Edwards. Paul experienced PTSD after working for many years in the police. He talks to Helen about the first time he went for CBT and what you can expect when you first see a CBT therapist. The conversation covers various topics, including anxiety, depression, phobias, living with a long-term health condition, and the role of measures and outcomes in therapy. In this conversation, Helen MacDonald and Paul discuss the importance of seeking help for mental health struggles and the role of CBT in managing anxiety and other conditions. They also talk about the importance of finding an accredited and registered therapy and how you can find one. If you liked this episode and want to hear more, please do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow us at @BABCPpodcasts on X or email us at [email protected]. Useful links: For more on CBT the BABCP website is www.babcp.com Accredited therapists can be found at www.cbtregisteruk.com Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen Macdonald, your host. I'm the senior clinical advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. I'm really delighted today to be joined by Paul Edwards, who is going to talk to us about his experience of CBT. And Paul, I would like to start by asking you to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about you. Paul: Helen, thank you. I guess the first thing it probably is important to tell the listeners is how we met and why I'm talking to you now. So, we originally met about four years ago when you were at the other side of a desk at a university doing an assessment on accreditation of a CBT course, and I was sitting there as somebody who uses his own lived experience, to talk to the students, about what it's like from this side of the fence or this side of the desk or this side of the couch, I suppose, And then from that I was asked if I'd like to apply for a role that was being advertised by the BABCP, as advising as a lived experience person. And I guess my background is, is a little bit that I actually was diagnosed with PTSD back in 2009 now, as a result of work that I undertook as a police officer and unfortunately, still suffered until 2016 when I had to retire and had to reach out. to another, another psychologist because I'd already had dealings with psychologists, but, they were no longer available to me. And I actually found what was called at the time, the IAPT service, which was the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies. And after about 18 months treatment, I said, can I give something back and can I volunteer? And my life just changed. So, we met. Yeah, four years ago, probably now. Helen: thank you so much, Paul. And we're really grateful to you for sharing those experiences. And you said about having PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and how it ultimately led to you having to retire. And then you found someone who could help. Would you like to just tell us a bit about what someone might not know about being on the receiving end of CBT? Paul: I feel that actual CBT is like a physiotherapy for the brain. And it's about if you go to the doctors and they diagnose you with a calf strain, they'll send you to the physio and they'll give you a series of exercises to do in between your sessions with your physio to hopefully make your calf better. And CBT is very much, for me, like that, in as much that you have your sessions with your therapist, but it's your hard work in between those sessions to utilize the tools and exercises that you've been given, to make you better. And then when you go back to your next session, you discuss that and you see, over time that you're honing those tools to actually sometimes realising that you're not using those tools at all, but you are, you're using them on a daily basis, but they become so ingrained in changing the way you think positively and also taking out the negativity about how you can improve. And, and yeah, it works sometimes, and it doesn't work sometimes and it's bloody hard work and it is shattering, but it works for me. Helen: Thank you, Paul. And I think it's really important when you say it's hard work, the way you described it there sounds like the therapist was like the coach telling you how to or workin

The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, the lead organisation for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in the UK and Ireland, is 50 years old this year. In this episode Dr Lucy Maddox explores how CBT has changed over the last 50 years. Lucy speaks to founding members Isaac Marks, Howard Lomas and Ivy Blackburn, previous President David Clark, outgoing President Andrew Beck and incoming President Saiqa Naz about changes through the years and possible future directions for CBT. Podcast episode produced by Dr Lucy Maddox for BABCP Transcript Dr Lucy Maddox: Hello, my name is Dr Lucy Maddox and this is Let's Talk about CBT, the podcast brought to you by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies or BABCP. This episode is a bit unusual, it's the 50th anniversary of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies this year. And I thought this would be a nice opportunity to explore some of the history of cognitive behavioural therapy, especially the last 50 years. Some of the roots of CBT can actually be traced way back. Epictetus, an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher wrote that man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them. This is pretty close to one of the main ideas of cognitive behavioural therapy, that it's the meaning that we give to events, rather than the events themselves which is important. But actually, cognitive behavioural therapy started off without the C. To find out more, I made a few phone calls. Isaac Marks: Hello, Isaac Marks here. Dr Lucy Maddox: Isaac Marks was one of the founding members of BABCP and a key figure in the development of behavioural therapy in Britain. I asked him if he could remember what CBT was like 50 years ago. Isaac Marks: Originally it was just BT and a few years later the cognitive was added. At the time, the main psychotherapy was dynamic psychotherapy, sort of Freudian and Jungian. But just a handful of us in Groote Schuur Hospital psychiatric department, that's in Cape Town, developed an interest in brief psychotherapy. And I was advised if I was really interested in it and I was thinking of taking it up as a sub profession, that I should come to the Maudsley in London. Dr Lucy Maddox: Isaac and his wife moved to London from South Africa and Isaac studied psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital in Camberwell. What was it about CBT that had interested you so much? Isaac Marks: Because it was a brief psychotherapy, much briefer than the analytic psychodynamic psychotherapy. We were short of therapists and there wasn't that much money to pay for extended therapy, just a few sessions. Six or eight sessions something like that could achieve all what one needed to. They had quite a lot of article studies. Dr Lucy Maddox: And I guess that's still true today, that those are some of the real standout features of it, aren't they? That it is a briefer intervention than some other longer-term therapies and that it's got a really high quality evidence base. Isaac Marks: I think that's probably true, yes. Howard Lomas: There was a group that met at the Middlesex Hospital every month. And that was set up by the likes of Vic Meyer, Isaac Marks, Derek Jayhugh. Dr Lucy Maddox: That's Howard Lomas, another founding member of BABCP remembering how the organisation got set up 50 years ago from lots of different interest groups coming together. Howard Lomas: These various groups that got together and said, "Why don't we have a national organisation?" So that was formed back in 1972. Dr Lucy Maddox: Howard's professional background was different to Isaac's psychiatry training, but he found behaviour therapy just as useful. Howard Lomas: I'd originally trained well in social work, but I was a childcare officer with Lancashire County Council. Dr Lucy Maddox: And how were you using CBT or behaviour therapy in your practice? Howard Lomas: Well, as a general approach to everything, thinking of everything in terms of learning theory. How do we learn to do what we do and maintain it with children? Things like non-attendance at school and other problems, behavioural problems with children and then later problems with adults. But I suppose when I moved to Bury in 1973, I was very much involved in resettlement of people with learning disability from the huge hospitals that we had up here in the north. We'd three hospitals within sight of each other, each with more than 2,000 patients. Dr Lucy Maddox: Wow. Howard Lomas: They're all closed now long since, but yeah, the start of that whole closure programme of trying to get people out into the community. You learn normal behaviour by being in a normal environment, which people in institutions clearly aren't and weren't. So it's trying to create that ordinary valued environment for people. And simply doing that would teach them ordinary behaviours, valued behaviours. It was evidence-based, it was also very effective. It looked at behaviour for what it was rathe

In this bonus episode of Let's Talk About CBT, hear Dr Lucy Maddox interview Dr Tom Ward and Angie about SlowMo: digitally supported face-to-face CBT for paranoia combined with a mobile app for use in daily life. Podcast episode produced by Dr Lucy Maddox for BABCP Transcript Dr Lucy Maddox: Hello and welcome to Let's Talk about CBT, the podcast from the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, BABCP. This podcast is all about CBT, what it is, what it's not, and how it can be useful. In this episode, I'll be finding out about an exciting new blended therapy, SlowMo, for people who are experiencing paranoia. This digitally supported therapy has been developed over 10 years with a team of people including designers from the Royal College of Art in London, a team of people who have experienced paranoia. And a team of clinical researchers, including Professor Philippa Garety, Dr Amy Hardy and Dr Tom Ward. The design of this intervention really prioritised the experience of people using the therapy in what's called a design led approach. To understand more I video called Tom Ward, research clinical psychologist based in Kings College London, and I had a phone call with Angie, who's experienced using the therapy. Here's Angie's story. Angie: I mean, I've had psychosis for many years. About 20 years ago I was really poorly, I was in and out of hospital. Going back about 20 years ago they kept giving me different diagnoses and I expect everybody else had the same thing. Anyway, then I met a psychiatrist and I was with him for over 20 years until he retired. And he really helped me a lot, I was actually diagnosed with schizophrenia. Part of me was really scared and another part of me was sort of relieved that I knew that I was dealing with. I get voices, sometimes I see or feel things that aren't really there. But part of my diagnosis is I also get very depressed. And when I get very depressed, that's when the voices are at their worst because I haven't got the strength to sort of fight them off, if you like. If I'm having a good day, then I can use the skills I've learnt in the past to not listen to the voices and to have a reasonably good day. If I'm having a bad day and it's a duvet day, then that's when I really suffer with the voices. Unless you can actually accept that you have this issue, and you actually accept that you need the help, it doesn't matter what they do to help you, you're just not going to take it on board. Dr Lucy Maddox: Angie wanted some help, specifically with paranoid thoughts she was experiencing about people looking at her or laughing at her. She found out about the SlowMo trial and applied to be a part of it. And ended up being one of the very first people to try the therapy. Tom led on the delivery of therapy in the trial. Dr Tom Ward: I've worked and have worked for the last couple of years trying to develop and test digital interventions for people experiencing psychosis. So I've been involved in developing interventions that help people who are experiencing distressing voices. And been involved in work in a therapy called avatar therapy and more recently I've been working with colleagues to develop an intervention designed to help people who are experiencing fear of harm from others, which we would sometimes refer to as paranoia. Dr Lucy Maddox: In case listeners wonder what avatar therapy is could you just briefly say what that is? Dr Tom Ward: So in avatar therapy, digital technology is used with the person to create a representation of the distressing voice that they hear. So we work with the person to create an avatar which has an image which matches the image the person has of their distressing voice. And which comes to sound like the voice that they hear. And we use this avatar direct in dialogue. Very much with the rationale that many people who are experiencing distressing voices have relationships with their voice where they feel disempowered and lacking power and control. And we try to use the work with avatars and the dialogue with avatars to provide an opportunity for the person to reclaim power and control. And so we're very much working directly with the experience in quite a potentially powerful way for people. Dr Lucy Maddox: Could you tell me about the current project you're working on, so SlowMo? Dr Tom Ward: Yeah, so the first thing to say is that SlowMo stands for slow down for a moment. And so, it's a therapy which is a targeted therapy for people who are experiencing paranoia. And it's based in the idea that's been popularised by Daniel Kahneman and other people that human thinking can be sort of thought about in terms of two different types of thinking. There's fast thinking where we approach situations and we go with our first impression. We go with our intuition and gut feeling and we don't take time to think it through. And slow thinking is more around taking a step back from situations and weighing things up and considering differe

Children don't come with a manual, and parenting can be hard. What is evidence-based parenting training and how can it help? Dr Lucy Maddox interviews Sue Howson and Jane, about their experiences of delivering and receiving this intervention for parents of primary school aged children. Show Notes and Transcript Podcast episode produced by Dr Lucy Maddox for BABCP Sue and Jane both recommended this book: The Incredible Years (R): Trouble Shooting Guide for Parents of Children Aged 3-8 Years By Carolyn Webster-Stratton (Author) Sue also recommended this book: Helping the Noncompliant Child Family-Based Treatment for Oppositional Behaviour Robert J. McMahon, Rex L.Forehand 2nd Edition Paperback (01 Sep 2005) ISBN 978-1593852412 Websites http://www.incredibleyears.com/ https://theministryofparenting.com/ https://www.nurturingmindsconsultancy.co.uk/ For more on CBT the BABCP website is www.babcp.com Accredited therapists can be found at www.cbtregisteruk.com Courses The courses where Sue works are available here, and there are similar courses around the country: https://www.reading.ac.uk/charliewaller/cwi-iapt.aspx Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash This episode was edited by Eliza Lomas Transcript Lucy: Hello and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast from the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, BABCP. This podcast is all about CBT, what it is, what it's not and how it can be useful. This episode is the last in the current series so we'll be having a break for a bit, apart from a cheeky bonus episode, which is planned for a few months' time so look out for that. Today, I'm finding out about evidence-based parenting training. This is a type of intervention for the parents of primary school aged children. It draws on similar principles to cognitive behavioural therapy about links between thoughts, feelings, behaviours and bodily sensations and ideas from social learning theory. It also draws some ideas from child development such as attachment theory and parenting styles. To understand more about all of this, I met with Sue Howson, parenting practitioner who works in child mental health services and Jane, a parent who has experienced the training herself. Jane: My name is Jane and I've got a little boy called Jack who is seven and he's in Year 3. Lucy: And you've experienced evidence-based parenting training, is that right? Jane: Yeah, I have. It's something called the Incredible Years. And there was a really nice lady called Sue and my school put us in touch to form a group to kind of help me manage Jack a little bit more at home. Lucy: So, your journey into it was that the school let you know about it? Jane: Yeah. Basically, I was having a few issues with Jack at home and I think it was kind of impacting on school as well. So, I was working with the special needs coordinator and she, obviously, had me, Jack and my family in mind as someone who might benefit from working a little bit with Sue. I was a bit nervous at first, you know, like professionals coming in, getting involved. But she was really nice and it was really beneficial. Lucy: Is it okay to ask what sort of difficulties you were having at home, sort of what was going on? Jane: Yeah, I can tell you now because it's all changed, it's much better. Lucy: Oh good, that's great to hear. Jane: I mean, Jack's a lovely boy. He's my eldest and he's really nice and just a bit of a joy – he is now. But I think one of the main things that I was struggling with, with him, was kind of difficulties with falling asleep. In the evenings, he would always want me to fall asleep either next to him or in his bed and that was kind of impacting on our evening, mine and my husband's quite a lot. And it was taking up a lot of time and I think evenings are quite hard because you're so tired and you just want to go to bed. So, that was one of the issues. And the no sleep was impacting on all aspects of our family life, really. I would just be really tired all the time and quite short, and end up shouting at Jack when I just wanted him to go to sleep and he wouldn't. And shouting wasn't ideal and doesn't help but I'd just get frustrated, really and I think quite a lot of us were quite unhappy. Lucy: That sounds super hard. Jane: Yeah. I mean, he is seven but he'd kind of throw a massive wobbly if he didn't get what he wanted, like, I don't know, like an extra biscuit or chocolate finger or something from the cupboard, he would just kind of lose it. And that was really hard to deal with, particularly when you're tired. I know you shouldn't but you always kind of end up giving in a little bit, don't you, because you just want the easy life. And you know that you shouldn't but… Sue: It's really hard when you're being shouted at or when you're exhausted like that. Jane: And I'd also feel like the path of least resistance, like sometimes it just easier to give in, even though I knew that I shouldn't. So, I guess those are the main issues, really,

In this episode Dr Lucy Maddox speaks to Sharon and Dr Anne Garland, about CBT for depression. Hear how Sharon describes it, and how both group and individual therapy helped. Show Notes and Transcript Podcast episode produced by Dr Lucy Maddox for BABCP Books Overcoming Depression by Paul Gilbert Podcast Episodes CBT for Perfectionism Compassion Focussed Therapy Websites www.babcp.com www.cbtregisteruk.com Image by Kevin Mueller on Unsplash Transcript Lucy: Hello and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast from the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, BABCP. This podcast is all about CBT, what it is, what it's not and how it can be useful. In this episode we're thinking about CBT for depression. I spoke with Dr Anne Garland who spent 25 years working with people who experience depression and Sharon, who has experienced it herself. Both Anne and Sharon come from a nursing background. Anne now works at the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre as a consultant psychotherapist, but she used to work in Nottingham, which is where Sharon had CBT for depression. Here's Sharon. How would you describe what depression is like? Sharon: When I was going to school, when I was a little girl, an infant, we would have to go over the fields because I lived in the country, and go down. I could hear the bell of the junior school but couldn't find it because of the fog. I walked round and round, I was five, walked round and round and round in those fields trying to get to the bell where I knew I would be safe and being terrified on my own. And that's how it feels actually. Darkness, cold, very frightening. Lucy: I asked Anne how depression gets diagnosed and she described a range of symptoms. Anne: In its acute phase it's characterised by what would be considered a range of symptoms. So, tiredness, lethargy, lack of motivation, poor concentration, difficulty remembering. Some of the most debilitating symptoms are often disturbed sleep and absence of any sense of enjoyment or pleasure in life and that can be very distressing to people. People can be really plagued with suicidal thoughts and feelings of hopelessness that life is pointless. I think one of the most devastating things about depression as an illness is it robs people of their ability to do everyday things. So for example, getting up, getting dressed, getting washed, deciding what you want to wear can all be really impaired by the symptoms of depression. I try and help people to understand that the symptoms are real, they're not imagined. Often people will tell me that they imagine these things or that they aren't real and that it's all in their mind. Their symptoms are real, they exist in the body and do exert a really detrimental effect on just your ability to do what most of us take for granted on a day-to-day basis. Lucy: And so it's a lot more than sadness isn't it? Anne: Absolutely. It can be very profound feelings of sadness but often that's amplified by feelings of extreme guilt, of shame, anger and anxiety is another common feature of depression. Also, when people are very profoundly depressed they can actually just feel numb and feel nothing and that in itself can be very distressing because things that might normally move you to feel a real sense of connection. Say for example your children or your grandchildren, you may have no feelings whatsoever, and that in itself can be very alarming to people. Lucy: The way that depression and its treatment are thought about can vary depending on who you speak to. Just like with other sorts of mental health problems. More biological viewpoints prioritise thinking about brain changes that can occur with depression while more social perspectives prioritise thinking about the context that people are part of. Anne: As CBT tends to take a more pragmatic view of thinking about a connection between events in our environment, our reactions to those in terms of biology, thoughts, feelings and behaviour and how all of those things interact and that's a very pragmatic way of thinking about things really. And I guess traditionally in CBT there's the idea of making what is referred to as a psycho biosocial intervention. What that essentially means is that you can use medication plus psychological therapies – particularly CBT in this instance – and interventions that may influence your environment. If you do those things altogether then you're more likely to get a better outcome, which is really what our service in Nottingham is predicated on that idea. That if you think about all of those aspects in a practical, pragmatic way, then that may maximise your chances of seeing an improvement in depression. And I think one of the challenges in depression, if you look at the research literature, is once you've had one episode of depression, you have a 25% chance of another. Once you've had two, a 50% chance. And once you've had three, a 95% chance of another episode. So the concept of recurrence becomes reall

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems, but there's a good evidence-base for CBT as a helpful intervention. In this podcast, Dr Lucy Maddox speaks with Dr Blake Stobie and Claire Read, about what CBT for anxiety is like, and how anxious thoughts can be like the circle line. Show Notes and Transcript Podcast episode produced by Dr Lucy Maddox for BABCP Websites BABCP https://www.babcp.com Accredited register of CBT therapists https://www.cbtregisteruk.com Anxiety UK https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk NICE guidelines on anxiety https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs53 Apps Claire recommended the Thought Diary Pro app as being helpful to use in conjunction with therapy to complete thought records. https://www.good-thinking.uk/resources/thought-diary-pro/ Books Claire recommended this workbook on Overcoming Low Self Esteem by Melanie Fennell https://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Low-Self-Esteem-Self-help-Course/dp/1845292375/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=self+esteem+workbook+melanie+fennell&qid=1605884391&s=books&sr=1-2 And this book by Helen Kennerley on Overcoming Anxiety is part of the same series https://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Anxiety-Books-Prescription-Title/dp/1849018782/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=overcoming+anxiety&qid=1605884437&s=books&sr=1-1 Credits Image used is by Robert Tudor from Unsplash Podcast episode produced and edited by Lucy Maddox for BABCP Transcript Lucy: Hello and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast from the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, BABCP. This podcast is all about CBT, what it is, what it's not and how it can be useful. In this episode we're thinking about CBT for depression. I spoke with Dr Anne Garland who spent 25 years working with people who experience depression and Sharon, who has experienced it herself. Both Anne and Sharon come from a nursing background. Anne now works at the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre as a consultant psychotherapist, but she used to work in Nottingham, which is where Sharon had CBT for depression. Here's Sharon. How would you describe what depression is like? Sharon: When I was going to school, when I was a little girl, an infant, we would have to go over the fields because I lived in the country, and go down. I could hear the bell of the junior school but couldn't find it because of the fog. I walked round and round, I was five, walked round and round and round in those fields trying to get to the bell where I knew I would be safe and being terrified on my own. And that's how it feels actually. Darkness, cold, very frightening. Lucy: I asked Anne how depression gets diagnosed and she described a range of symptoms. Anne: In its acute phase it's characterised by what would be considered a range of symptoms. So, tiredness, lethargy, lack of motivation, poor concentration, difficulty remembering. Some of the most debilitating symptoms are often disturbed sleep and absence of any sense of enjoyment or pleasure in life and that can be very distressing to people. People can be really plagued with suicidal thoughts and feelings of hopelessness that life is pointless. I think one of the most devastating things about depression as an illness is it robs people of their ability to do everyday things. So for example, getting up, getting dressed, getting washed, deciding what you want to wear can all be really impaired by the symptoms of depression. I try and help people to understand that the symptoms are real, they're not imagined. Often people will tell me that they imagine these things or that they aren't real and that it's all in their mind. Their symptoms are real, they exist in the body and do exert a really detrimental effect on just your ability to do what most of us take for granted on a day-to-day basis. Lucy: And so it's a lot more than sadness isn't it? Anne: Absolutely. It can be very profound feelings of sadness but often that's amplified by feelings of extreme guilt, of shame, anger and anxiety is another common feature of depression. Also, when people are very profoundly depressed they can actually just feel numb and feel nothing and that in itself can be very distressing because things that might normally move you to feel a real sense of connection. Say for example your children or your grandchildren, you may have no feelings whatsoever, and that in itself can be very alarming to people. Lucy: The way that depression and its treatment are thought about can vary depending on who you speak to. Just like with other sorts of mental health problems. More biological viewpoints prioritise thinking about brain changes that can occur with depression while more social perspectives prioritise thinking about the context that people are part of. Anne: As CBT tends to take a more pragmatic view of thinking about a connection between events in our environment, our reactions to those in terms of biology, thoughts, feelings and behaviour and how all of those things interact and that's a very pragmatic w

We tend to think about therapy as something that is helpful for individuals, but what about when you want to address problems which affect you and a partner or spouse? In this episode, Dr Lucy Maddox speaks to Dan Kolubinski about cognitive behavioural couples therapy, and hears from Liz and Richard about what the experience was like for them. Show Notes and Transcript Podcast episode produced by Dr Lucy Maddox for BABCP Dan recommended the book Fighting For Your Marriage by Markman, Stanley & Blumberg https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fighting-Your-Marriage-Best-seller-Preventing-dp-0470485914/dp/0470485914/ref=dp_ob_title_bk Some journal articles on couples therapy are available free online here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-cognitive-behaviour-therapist/information/let-s-talk-about-cbt-podcast The podcast survey is here and takes 5 minutes: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/podcastLTACBT The BABCP website is at www.babcp.com And the CBT Register of accredited CBT therapists is at https://www.cbtregisteruk.com Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash Transcript Lucy: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT. It's great to have you listening. When we think about therapy, we often think of one-to-one conversations between one person and their therapist. But what about when the problems that we're going for help with are related to how we're getting on with a partner or a spouse? Cognitive behavioural couples therapy helps with these sorts of difficulties. To understand more about it I spoke to a married couple, Richard and Liz, and Dan Kolubinski, their therapist. Richard and Liz did this therapy privately, but couples therapy is also available on the NHS to help with some specific difficulties. We hear more about that from Dan later on. For now though let's hear what Richard and Liz thought of their couples therapy in this interview which I recorded with them remotely. Richard: My name's Richard. I'm 37 years old and I've been married to Liz for just over seven years now. I'm a postie at the moment, and kind of lived in Essex most of my life. Liz: It's like a dating programme. Richard: It is, isn't it? Yeah, a little bit. (laughs) Liz: So I'm Liz and I make cakes for a living, and write about mental health. So that's us. Lucy: That's great. So thanks so much for agreeing to speak with me about your experience of couples therapy, and specifically cognitive behavioural couples therapy. Would you mind telling me how you came across it and what made you think you might want to try it? Liz: Yeah. So I think it's something that we've spoken about in the past. And we've both had therapy separately, and I think we've both had various different types of therapy. So Richard has had CBT before, I think we've both done psycho-dynamic counselling. So when we decided we were going to do it, we realised that for us it was more beneficial to almost do a crash course, as it were, together. So to do a whole weekend, rather than a little bit once a week. And that was how we discovered Dan, and were able to book in with him. Richard: Yeah, I think we both understand the value or had both experienced and understood the value of therapy individually. So it was kind of an easy step for us then to decide there could be a lot of value in doing this together. Lucy: That makes total sense. So you already had a bit of an understanding of what it might be like, or what it's like on an individual level? Liz: Yeah, definitely. And actually very early on in our marriage we had some couples counselling, which I don't think was actually as successful, and it was after that that we had separate counselling. And I think it was after we were both able to get ourselves into better positions, as it were, that that's when we were able to come back together and experience some therapy together. Lucy: That's really interesting. Do you think that helped you access the conversations together in a different way? Richard: Yes, I think it did. I think we both had an experience of therapy, of CBT and of other therapies, and the structure they would take or how they engaged you and enabled you to talk safely, and the prompts that might be used. When we did it together, it did make the conversations a bit freer, a bit more open. And I think we both felt it was a safe environment, which when we first had it I don't think we did feel. And that made a big difference I think. Liz: Yeah. And I think as with any relationship, until you've got a level of happiness with yourself, it's very difficult to have a relationship with somebody else that involves vulnerability or trust. And I don't think we had that the first time we tried having counselling together. I think we were almost so reliant on our relationship to form who we were, that the first time around we put too much pressure on ourselves, on the relationship, and also on the counselling, and we expected some magic wand. Whereas now we've realised it actually does take a bit of work. Richard: Yeah. Liz: B