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0203 326 9160 0203 761 7026 0203 761 7027 0203 761 7029CAT (Cognitive Analytic Therapy) incorporates both cognitive and analytical approaches. It is a blend of the pragmatic and the unconscious patterns that impact on our lives and for many is incredibly effective at enabling change.
CAT involves looking at the way a person thinks, feels and acts, and the events and relationships that underlie these experiences (often from childhood or earlier in life).
CAT is an integrative therapy – with roots within both the ‘cognitive’ and ‘analytic’ families of therapy. It was designed to provide an effective therapy that could be used in a relatively short term way, to help patients deal with often complex and difficult issues.
CAT believes that our thoughts influence how we make sense of past experiences and, consequently, how we manage new emotional difficulties.
Sometimes, the way we respond to important experiences in our lives creates a distorted set of thoughts and belief systems. These distorted thoughts can then go on to create behaviours which aren’t always the most helpful in a situation (these are often known as ‘maladaptive’ behaviours).
The problem with these new maladaptive behaviours is that they can lead us to react in certain ways that mean we may have difficulties with relationships, holding down jobs or just leading a happy and fulfilling life.
CAT’s distinctive feature is that it treats multiple symptoms or problems in one therapy via an active, focussed and collaborative process.
CAT treatment is flexible, so it can be used with a wide range of issues and problems and is also personalised to the individual client.
CAT is a NICE approved treatment for a wide variety of conditions, including:
The analytic element of CAT focuses on the relationships in the individual’s life, both with other people and themselves and in particular will look at the following areas:
For instance, if one of your parents left home at an early age, you may have ‘learnt’ to expect to be abandoned. The theme of abandonment may be something that you experience later on in life, perhaps lots of relationships have ended for you.
You may start to fear this abandonment and go out of your way to do things that will stop it from happening – these behaviours can cause distress and may cause ongoing problems in relationships (creating a cycle of fear and abandonment).
An individual may also have a subconscious expectation that they may abandon themselves and this could play out by not trusting oneself, not committing to things and finding it hard to see things through.
The cognitive aspects of CAT assume that how we think can condition how we feel, act and our sense of ‘reality’. In addition how we act can affect our thoughts and feelings.
In this way, patterns of thoughts and actions can become self-perpetuating and CAT can be really helpful in understanding these links and developing ‘exits’ to these patterns.
In traditional analytic therapy, part of the therapist’s role would be to make interpretations about a client’s unconscious processes.
In traditional cognitive therapies, part of the role of the therapist would be to look at unhelpful patterns of thinking and acting.
CAT blends the cognitive and analytic approaches, taking both a pragmatic approach, typical of cognitive therapy, and a relational approach, which explores a person’s sense of self typical of an analytic approach.
The therapist will describe problematic patterns in the client’s ways of thinking, behaving and relating helping them to understand their difficulties more clearly, recognise patterns as they arise, and find ways to change them.
CAT also differs from other therapies in that a key element of the therapy is that the therapist openly shares their understanding, often in the form of letters or diagrams, that summarise the central features of the client’s problems and proposes what the therapist and client should focus on in their remaining sessions.
I had been experiencing emotional turmoil in my relationship with my direct family for some time and realised I needed professional help to turn things around. But I had no idea what sort of help I needed. Clinical Partners found me the perfect therapist to work with and it’s made such a difference.
Sophie, Leicester
It can be really hard to know which therapy is the right one for your current circumstances. It’s normal for people to find one type of therapy works at a particular time in their lives, but then change to another type later on.
In CAT, the client will focus on issues and work with their therapist to understand the deeper patterns that underlie them.
The key indicators that cognitive analytic therapy might be a good choice for you include:
Private psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy for adults and children,
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0203 326 9160
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0203 326 9160 0203 761 7026 0203 761 7027 0203 761 7029