CBT for Anxiety: Be Your Own Detective

 

Key Information

  • The Vicious Cycle: Anxiety often traps you in a cycle where thoughts, feelings, and behaviours reinforce each other.
  • CBT: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a practical therapy that teaches you to break this cycle.
  • Be the Detective: You learn to question anxious thoughts and gradually face fears in a structured, manageable way.

Understanding the Anxiety Cycle

Anxiety often follows a repeating pattern:

  • The Thought: “Everyone will think I'm boring.”
  • The Feeling: Dread, fear, a churning stomach.
  • The Behaviour: Avoiding the event.
  • The Result: Short-term relief, but the anxiety is reinforced for next time.

CBT helps you interrupt this pattern.

  • Step 1: The Cognitive Part (Thoughts)
    • You put anxious thoughts “on trial.”
    • Ask: “What is the evidence for this thought?”
    • Ask: “Is there a more balanced way of looking at this?”
  • Step 2: The Behavioural Part (Actions)
    • Instead of avoiding fears, you face them gradually.
    • For example, attending a social event for just 15 minutes if you struggle with social anxiety.
    • As you practise this, anxiety gradually loses its power.

How to Access CBT

CBT is one of the main treatments offered by the NHS.

You can often refer yourself directly to NHS Talking Therapies services without seeing a GP first.

Find an NHS Talking Therapies Service

Need to Discuss it First?

If you are unsure whether CBT is right for you, or you would prefer to speak to a doctor first, we are here to help.

Discuss How You Feel

Further Information

To learn more about talking therapies, please visit the NHS website.

Learn more about talking therapies

Last reviewed: 01 January 2026
Next review due: 01 January 2029

Providing NHS Services

Telephone: 01727 853107

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