Category: Mental Health
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How To Treat Seasonal Affective Disorder: A CBT Perspective
Seasonal Affective Disorder: An Introduction As the days grow colder and shorter, and the nights grow longer during the transition from summer to the autumn and winter period, it is unsurprising that people experience a worsening in how they feel. As individuals from House Stark like to say – “Winter is coming”. Seasonal Affective…
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Why Does Chronic Fatigue Cause Insomnia: A CBT Model and Strategies To Help
The relationship between chronic fatigue and insomnia Chronic fatigue syndrome is a challenging disorder to deal with because research has yet to determine the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome to any specific medical cause. Moreover, along with being a severely impairing disorder by itself, chronic fatigue can also lend itself to other comorbid challenges. One…
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Four CBT Techniques That Are Helpful For Depression
Self-Help CBT for depressed mood Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective evidence-based treatment of depression. Its principles revolve around changing thoughts and behaviours that lead to low mood. This approach can be pretty helpful in depression because depression can impact both our thinking and our behaviours. For example, people with depression may have negative…
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You Don’t Have To Follow The Recommendations Of CBT For Insomnia Forever
CBT for insomnia is effective but its recommendations are hard to follow Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT for insomnia) can be a very effective treatment for chronic insomnia. However, the recommendations of CBT for insomnia can be somewhat difficult to adhere to: keeping to a regular bed and wake schedule (meaning no sleeping in…
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How I Reduced My Social Anxiety Using Evidence-Based Strategies
A personal journey of shyness and social anxiety This post is a bit different from the usual articles posted on this website. Typically, I discuss topics a bit more formally and use anecdotes that are either made up or de-identified based on my previous clinical cases. However, this time I wanted to share something a…
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Six Good And Measurable Sleep Goals To Optimize Your Sleep
Goal-setting in sleep therapy In behavioural sleep medicine (and psychotherapy more generally speaking), goal-setting is an important part of treatment. This is because we want each person to get what they want out of treatment when it comes to improving their sleep. As clinicians, we can provide information on areas that the person can improve,…
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Strategies To Increase The Chances Of Exposures For Anxiety To Work
Exposures work for anxiety problems When practiced appropriately, exposure techniques are among the most effective treatments for anxiety. This is because avoidance is what maintains our anxiety. Exposing ourselves to that fear in a controlled way allows us to recognize that our worries are unlikely to be true and allows our mind and body to…
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Five Values That Make Benefiting From CBT For Insomnia Harder
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia CBT for insomnia (CBT-I for short) is an effective evidence-based treatment for chronic insomnia. There is ample research out there for how effective CBT-I is for insomnia. In our own clinical trials, we typically see nearly 80% of people become good sleepers by just 4 sessions. This is because CBT-I…
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Four Reasons Why Thought Records Do Not Always Work In Depression
How do thought records work in CBT? The primary idea in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is that our thoughts and behaviours can affect how we feel. By changing the way that we think or behave, we are able to effectively break through negative cycles that keep our anxiety or depression (or other symptoms) going. One…
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Differences In Worries Between Generalized Anxiety Disorder And Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) When people are experiencing anxious thoughts throughout the day, they may look to the books or the internet to figure out the possible causes. Sometimes, they find themselves wondering if their thoughts are more consistent with anxiety-related problems or obsessive compulsive-related problems. GAD is a type…
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