Stephen recently completed a British Psychological Society (BPS) approved Certificate in Integrated CBT for Common Life Challenges. These are problems with living that people frequently encounter; patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaviour that we can become stuck in, that prevent us living our lives as we would wish.
Take procrastination, for instance. This is a pattern of putting things off, sometimes to the last minute so that we put ourselves under huge pressure, sometimes so far that we never do them at all. Everybody has done this to some extent with some activities, but for some of us, it’s a pattern that makes life feel like a struggle, and something we’d really like to stop doing. Procrastination can cause us stress, anxiety, guilt, lack of confidence, wasted time, wasted money, poor academic success, long working hours, poor quality decisions, and more.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) can help you put procrastination behind you, especially when its integrated with related modern therapies like Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, (ACT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). The Integrated CBT approach to procrastination works with you increase your motivation to make a start on things that matter to you; it helps you learn to tolerate the uncomfortable feelings that can lead you to put things off; it helps you to question and cast doubt on the thoughts that lead you to procrastinate, or to stand back from those thoughts so you can notice them but choose not to be hooked by them; it helps you develop and implement a set of IF…THEN rules for making a start when you’re tempted to put something off; and it helps you develop ways to implement all these skills.
Procrastination is one of many common life challenges. Others include dealing with criticism, low self-esteem, feeling out of control, acting on impulse, staleness in romantic relationships, perfectionism, hoarding, dealing with rejection, feeling like an imposter, being plagued with doubts, guilt, envy, jealousy, and resentfulness. Traditional CBT training doesn’t address any of them specifically, but an integrated CBT approach can help with all of them. Stephen’s recent Certificate in Integrated CBT for Common Life Challenges is aimed at increasing our ability to offer effective therapy for these kinds of difficulties.
Contact Us
If you need support with any of these challenges, other kinds of problems with living, or mental health difficulties, you can contact Lemons to Lemonade by email at contact@lemonstolemonade.co.uk or by phone on 07376 010506.