What is CBT, EMDR and Schema Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a practical, evidence-based talking therapy based on the understanding that our thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and physical sensations are closely connected. When we feel anxious, low, or distressed, we can become stuck in unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviours that maintain or worsen how we feel.

CBT helps you identify and change these negative thought patterns and unhelpful behaviours, enabling you to regain control and improve your mental health, balance, and wellbeing. It is a collaborative therapy, where we work together at your pace towards agreed goals. CBT mainly focuses on the present, while also exploring past experiences when they are relevant to current difficulties.

CBT is effective for:

• Anxiety disorders (including panic attacks)

• Depression

• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Low self-esteem

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)

EMDR is an evidence-based psychotherapy that helps you process and recover from distressing or traumatic experiences that continue to affect your mental health and wellbeing. Some memories can become “stuck” and remain emotionally charged, contributing to ongoing symptoms.

EMDR uses guided side-to-side eye movements alongside structured talk therapy to help the brain reprocess these memories. This reduces the emotional intensity attached to them and allows new, more balanced perspectives to develop. EMDR can lead to significant symptom relief and lasting change.

EMDR can help with:

• Trauma and PTSD

• Anxiety and panic

• OCD

• Phobias

• Health anxiety

• Depression

Schema-Informed CBT Therapy

Schema-Informed CBT is a deeper, integrative therapy for people experiencing long-standing emotional difficulties or repeated patterns in thoughts, feelings, and relationships. These patterns, known as schemas, often develop early in life when core emotional needs were not fully met.

This approach combines CBT with attachment-based, experiential, and psychodynamic techniques to help you understand and change deeply rooted beliefs, regulate emotions, and develop healthier ways of coping. It is particularly helpful when difficulties feel entrenched or have not improved with short-term therapy.

Schema-Informed CBT can be effective for complex trauma, personality difficulties (including EUPD), PTSD, anxiety, OCD, eating disorders, relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, and emotional regulation problems.