3rd wave CBT

3rd Wave CBT Therapy

In the last 15 years 3rd Wave CBT has become one of the most powerful therapeutic developments. There are certain themes that bind different therapeutic approaches together under the heading of “3rd Wave” and which also go some way towards explaining its growing popularity. 3rd Wave has an integrative effect on the practice of CBT by drawing on a range of strategies and ideas that derive from other traditions. The Buddhist Mindfulness tradition is the most obvious but not the only one. Approaches as diverse as Gestalt Psychotherapy and Radical Behaviourism have found a place within 3rd Wave approaches.

Mindfulness can regulate your emotions and give purpose to your life and a freedom of choice. Mindfulness provides the key linking theme within the Certificate in 3rd Wave CBT. The focus on attention and non-judgemental acceptance rather than avoidance, control and judgement ensures that mindfulness becomes a thread running throughout third wave psychotherapies.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a treatment package that combines several traditions such as early behaviourism, positive psychology and mindfulness. ACT is a trans-diagnostic model that has been successfully used to treat conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, chronic pain, eating disorders and substance misuse just to name a few. ACT’s target is to promote psychological flexibility, that is, the ability to behave in a way that is consistent with one’s values even in the presence of aversive experiences (e.g. thoughts, feelings, physical pain).

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), is a research-based therapy founded on a combination of principles from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Evolutionary Psychology and Attachment Theory. It was developed to work specifically with clients who had high levels of shame and self-criticism and who had had early experiences of poor attachment, affiliation and affection. By developing care and affiliative focused motivation, attention, emotion, behaviour and thinking CFT begins to address these problems. Key skills with CFT include the use of compassion focused imagery, the development of a compassionate self and the use of a sense of a compassionate self to engage with areas of personal difficulty.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) has developed as a combination of operant and skills training approaches, the incorporation of the concept of dialectics and the central role of mindfulness. Variations of DBT – in its pure form, in the form of its component parts or in adapted forms such as Radically Open DBT have developed as a gold standard approach to working with “treatment resistant” and “difficult to treat” clients

I am now pleased to announce that I am officially certified in 3rd Wave CBT Therapy and will be using techniques within my coaching sessions helping people to overcome body and  and self esteem issues, encouraging a healthy balanced diet and general wellbeing. Please go to my website for details 

www.karen-lockyer.co.uk