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Mr Colin Watkins

Mr Colin Watkins

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) 30037462

  • Fee assured
Overview
Fee assured

Offers

  • Face-to-face consultations
  • Video and telephone consultations

About me

I am a psychotherapist qualified in, and fully accredited for, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and EMDR. I can be found on the register of the relevant governing bodies, the BABCP and the EMDR Association.

I have worked for the NHS in Mental Health since 2001. My background is in Mental Health Nursing and I having been working full-time as a Psychotherapist since 2011. I am also currently a Team Lead in a NHS psychological Service.

I have experience of working with people who come with a wide range of difficulties; some with clear diagnosis others may not have but have ongoing difficulties on a day to day basis.

For everybody that I treat we begin with a comprehensive assessment to try to determine what difficulties they would like to work on and to gain an understanding on what triggered and what maintains these problems. This enables us to formulate an individual plan for people to move towards achieving their goals and targets that they choose to work on. Some people have a clear idea of their difficulties and how they want things to be different. However if this is not the case and you just have a feeling that things are not right or a sense of hopelessness then the assessment will help us formulate this and help you to consider the changes you wish to make to your life.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Is 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.
It helps you to break down your problems into five main areas:
Situations
Thoughts
Emotions
Physical feelings
Behaviours (what we do in response to the distress)
These areas are inter-connected. For example, our thoughts about a situation (this is dangerous) will effect how we feel emotionally (anxiety, fear) and physically (increased heart rate, tense, churning stomach) and therefore what we do (escape).
CBT differs from other therapies as it is pragmatic and structured; focussing on identifying specific problems, setting goals and looking at how we can overcome what is getting in the way of heading towards those goals. It is also a collaborative therapy. It is essential that we build a good therapeutic relationship so that we can work together to find solutions which suit the individual and their difficulties. It is not about your therapist telling you what you should do.
CBT can help you to change how you think ('Cognitive') and what you do ('Behaviour'). These changes can help you to feel better. It focuses on the 'here and now' problems and difficulties initially, as well as focusing on the causes of your distress or symptoms in the past if it feels appropriate.


What is EMDR?

EMDR is a therapy that was initially developed for trauma and is a recommended treatment by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence for PTSD.

EMDR is a process in which distressing memories lose their intensity so that they are less distressing and seem more like an “ordinary” memory.

A distressing or traumatic memory might be any event that someone is exposed to or witnesses that evokes strong negative emotions or feelings of hopelessness. These might be violent or abusive incidents or more personal such as being ridiculed, criticised or emotionally abused. Although the event may not be “traumatic” in a classic sense, it can be associated with a high level of distress which the brain treats in the same way. The emotions and bodily reactions at the time of the traumatic event are associated with chemicals in the nervous symptom and these can cause the brain to store the traumatic experience in a manner different from an everyday event which doesn’t carry a strong emotional charge.

The effect of EMDR is believed to be similar to that which occurs naturally during REM part of our sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) when yours eyes move rapidly from side to side. EMDR helps to reduce the distress of all the different kinds of memories, whether it was what you saw, heard, smelt, tasted, felt or

Areas of interest

Although I work with a wide range of conditions my specialist interest is in trauma.
I also work with PTSD; complex trauma; Long Term Health conditions; specific phobias; Health Anxiety; Social Anxiety; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder;Body Dysmorphic Disorder; Morbid Jealousy; Generalised Anxiety; grief and loss; prolonged grief; work stress and Depression.

Specialist interests and expertise in the following physical conditions

  • Eating disorders
  • Pain management
  • Psychophysiological disorders
About me
My qualifications & training
My private practice
Consultant's practices
Information for healthcare professionals

Information for healthcare professionals (Bupa patients only, last 12 months)

Procedures completed

  • AA387

    Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) session - (5-50)

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