The CBT Journal Project – Taking control of your health and long term condition
The Department of Health tells us that 15 million people in UK suffer with a Long Term Condition (LTC). Long term conditions or chronic diseases are conditions for which there is currently no cure. They are managed (with mixed success) with medications and other treatments (KingsFund).
Human beings have been evolving for thousands of years. In some ways, we’ve accomplished a lot. People live longer. On the other hand, people live with disabilities for many years and we aren’t especially effective at reducing these disabilities within their lifetimes. So, what do you do when you can’t find an easy fix?
Sarah Rees has some ideas. Sarah is a CBT Therapist with a private practice in Wilmslow. In a recent conversation, Sarah and I spoke about her own experiences of long-term conditions and what she did to transform the effects it had on her life:
When I hit 40 a few years ago, I was forced to overhaul my lifestyle due to an under-active thyroid. After completing the standard treatment protocol through the NHS, my blood levels returned to normal, but I still felt unwell. I was miserable, overweight, and had chronic fatigue.
Leaning on my professional expertise, I started journaling in an attempt to unpick everything I was feeling. It helped me understand myself better and I soon began to see what I was doing right to create the good days and the actions impacting the bad.
With this knowledge, I was able to take control of my health and work out how to get where I needed to be. It took time, but I’ve completely changed my lifestyle and probably feel better than I did before!
Sarah has launched a fantastic new product called the CBT Journal, which based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. “It encourages you to become more aware of the patterns in your thoughts and feelings and behaviours are all linked together. It gives you the tools you need to change these patterns and improve your mental health.”
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