CBT has a strong evidence base for effectiveness across a range of problems. For depression it's a little more effective than drugs and it works about 60% of the time. Of those 75% will avoid relapse within 2 years if they had CBT or keep taking drugs. The risk of relapse with drugs is much higher if you stop taking them.
I'm amazed by how successful it is. I've not had one person I've worked with that's not been able to completely transform their lives, most have chronic, sometimes life long problems. I have the luxury of delivering as many sessions as are needed. Sometimes it's 6, sometimes 26.
On the NHS, it's often 6. If you get someone with a chronic problem, unless they are increadibly receptive to the method, you can get them feeling normal in 6 but they will relapse, or the problem will re-appear in a different way. It's because you've only worked on surface stuff, their core beliefs are still the same.
That's fine for some people, you don't need to go looking far for the cause of a spider phobia, but most need 10-12 sessions or more with a fair chunk on core beliefs to avoid relapse.
|