Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in Glasgow

What CBT is and how it works

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is based on the principle that the way we think, feel, and behave are closely interconnected. When we experience difficulties such as anxiety or depression, unhelpful patterns of thinking can develop that influence how we feel emotionally and what we do in response, which in turn reinforces the original thoughts.

CBT helps you identify these patterns and develop more balanced, realistic ways of thinking and responding. It is a collaborative therapy: you and your psychologist work together to understand your difficulties, set meaningful goals, and develop practical strategies you can use both in sessions and in everyday life.

CBT is one of the most extensively researched psychological therapies. It is structured and time-limited, with a clear focus on your current difficulties and what is maintaining them. NICE recommends CBT for a wide range of conditions, including generalised anxiety disorder, depression, panic disorder, OCD, PTSD, and health anxiety.

What CBT can help with

Our psychologists use CBT to help with a broad range of psychological difficulties, including:

• Anxiety: including generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety, and worry
• Depression: low mood, loss of motivation, and withdrawal from activities
• PTSD and trauma: trauma-focused CBT for post-traumatic stress disorder
• OCD: obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours, using CBT with exposure and response prevention (ERP)
• Panic disorder: recurrent panic attacks and avoidance
• Health anxiety: persistent worry about health and physical symptoms
• Phobias: specific fears that limit your life, treated with structured graded exposure
• Insomnia: CBT for insomnia (CBT-I) for persistent sleep difficulties

If you are unsure whether CBT is the right approach for your difficulties, your psychologist will talk this through with you when you first get in touch.

CBT as part of a blended, formulation-led approach

We believe that the best therapy is guided by a thorough understanding of you as an individual, not just a diagnosis. Your psychologist will develop a personalised psychological formulation: a shared understanding of how your difficulties developed, what keeps them going, and what will help.

While CBT is often the primary approach, your psychologist may draw on other evidence-based therapies alongside it. Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) may be helpful if self-criticism plays a significant role, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can support values-based change, Schema Therapy may be appropriate for longer-standing patterns rooted in earlier experiences, and EMDR may be used where trauma is part of the picture.

This means your therapy is tailored to you rather than following a rigid protocol or a one-size-fits-all manual. You can view our psychologists to find the right fit.

What a CBT session looks like

Sessions last 50 minutes and follow a collaborative structure. A session usually includes:

• A brief check-in on how things have been and any changes you have noticed
• Reviewing any between-session tasks or practice since you last met
• Working together on the main focus for that session, which might involve identifying and testing unhelpful thoughts, behavioural experiments, graded exposure, or developing coping strategies
• Agreeing on between-session practice to help you apply what you have learned

Between-session tasks (sometimes called "homework") are an important part of CBT. They help you practise new skills in real-life situations, which is where lasting change happens. These are always agreed collaboratively and tailored to what feels manageable.

How often you meet is agreed between you and your psychologist. Most courses run for between 8 and 20 sessions, though some focused concerns such as a phobia may need only 6 to 8.

Our CBT-trained psychologists

Our psychologists are doctoral-level clinical psychologists registered with the HCPC. CBT is a core part of clinical psychology training, and our team has extensive experience delivering it across NHS and private settings.

View our team to find a psychologist who is the right fit for you, or get in touch and we will help match you with the most appropriate clinician.