The benefits of CBT

Government figures show that one in four people will suffer from a form of mental illness at some point in their lives.

The NHS has launched a revised approach to the treatment of mental illness - particularly depression and anxiety disorders. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme aims to help implement the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines for people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.

In a step away from drug therapies, the Government has injected extra funding into the IAPT programme to increase the number of counsellors able to deliver talking therapies - particularly Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

Now, Westfield Health has introduced CBT for the first time as part of the package of benefits on its Foresight Plan.

But what is CBT and what is it like to undergo therapy?

Six years ago, 29-year-old Melody Patterson developed a severe phobia of being sick. Here she describes her experience of having a debilitating phobia and how CBT helped her to get her life back on track.

Melody said: "I don't know what triggered my phobia, or how it started, just one day I felt really nauseous. Then the next day I felt the same. I put it down to a bug or something I'd eaten, but the intense sick feeling never went away.

"I went to the doctors, who prescribed an anti nausea drug. They worked, but only for about half an hour. Before I knew it I was caught in a vicious circle I couldn't get out of.

"Everything started to be a big effort. Even standing in a queue in a shop to buy a pint of milk was horrible. I used to panic, thinking I was going to be sick, and have to run out. Every five minutes I'd get that awful wave of nausea just before you're sick - on the bus, in a lecture, at the cinema, shopping, everywhere.

"It started to dominate my thoughts and I stopped doing everyday things. No matter what I did, the thoughts of 'I'm going to be sick', never left my mind.

"I started to get obsessed with food. Anything that could possibly cause food poisoning was off the menu and my weight plummeted rapidly. I also got addicted to the anti nausea pills. At first I was prescribed 40 a month, but by the end I was taking 40 a week.

"A concerned friend made me go back to the doctors again, who suggested I had some CBT - a way of talking about how you think about yourself, the world and other people and how what you do affects your thoughts and feelings.

"CBT can help you to make sense of overwhelming problems by breaking them down into smaller parts. I was told to put together a 15-step ladder which needed to include the things I wanted to do, but felt I couldn't.

"The bottom of my ladder was going for a walk, the next was a visit to the shop, and so on. I had to complete each step over a week, before my next therapy session.

"It took time, effort and a lot of tears, but I got there in the end. There were times I really had to force myself and was petrified, but the sense of achievement when I'd done it was incredible.

"It's by no means a magic wand treatment, and you have to put the effort in. But by helping control your feelings and thoughts, it leaves you with a manageable solution and it makes you feel better without even realising it."