CBT Therapy for Mothers
Motherhood is a journey that’s not always straightforward or easy. Despite the joys that it brings, it can sometimes pull us away from ourselves, leaving us feeling overwhelmed, anxious, low, or struggling with emotions. It’s important to take care of yourself and your own wellbeing if you’re feeling like this, and this is where CBT therapy can help.
What is CBT?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT is an evidence-based approach that helps you make sense of the difficulties you are experiencing. The challenges of pregnancy, birth and motherhood can leave us feeling overwhelmed, anxious or stuck in unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour. Once you have an understanding of why you are struggling, we can work together to bring about change so that you feel more confident, enjoy motherhood more fully, and lead a more fulfilling and purposeful life.
You might be asking…
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Many mothers come to therapy feeling overwhelmed, questioning whether they’re doing enough or worrying that they are not the mother they want to be. CBT can help you understand these feelings, identify unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour, and develop practical strategies to manage difficult emotions.
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Yes. Officially, the postnatal period refers to the immediate months following birth, however the physical and emotional challenges of motherhood can continue long beyond this time. Each stage of parenthood brings its own challenges, and it’s important to reach out for support whenever you need it. My approach is designed to support you at every stage of motherhood.
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Thoughts like these are common in motherhood, unwanted thoughts, images or worries can feel frightening, upsetting or completely out of character. It’s important to know that having these thoughts does not mean you want them to happen or that they reflect who you are. CBT can help you understand why these thoughts occur and, rather than trying to stop them, learn how to change your relationship with them so they no longer influence how you live your life.
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Yes. CBT therapy is a treatment for depression, anxiety and OCD, whether you are pregnant, in the post-natal phase, or beyond. It can help you understand how your thoughts, feelings and behaviours are connected, identify what's keeping you stuck, and develop practical strategies to help you enjoy motherhood more fully.
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Different to counselling, CBT is a collaborative therapy approach where we will work together to develop new ways of moving forwards, often through setting experiments and testing things out in between sessions. With me, you will learn new skills that will stay with you beyond therapy, which normally lasts between 6 and 20 sessions. With me, you are in control of what you want to commit to and I can cater sessions to your practical and financial needs, including spacing out appointments. One of the benefits of accessing private CBT is that therapy is not done ‘to you’, one of the criticisms that come from some people who have had time limited sessions within the NHS.