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CBT therapy in Brisbane

When unhelpful thought patterns start driving how you feel and act, it can impact your life and wellbeing. Our experienced team uses CBT, to help you understand these patterns and build practical strategies for creating meaningful, lasting change.

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most well-researched psychological therapies. It helps people understand how their thoughts, emotions and behaviours influence one another and teaches practical strategies to respond to life's challenges in healthier, more helpful ways.

At Hardwick Psychological Services, our experienced Brisbane psychologists may use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as part of a personalised treatment plan tailored to your individual needs, goals and circumstances. Whether you're looking to better manage difficult thoughts, develop healthier coping strategies or improve your overall wellbeing, CBT provides practical tools that can support meaningful, lasting change.

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What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychological therapy that was championed by Aaron T Beck in the 1960s. This therapy is based on the theory that our thoughts influence our feelings, behaviours and physical reactions.

We all experience automatic thoughts throughout the day. While many are helpful, others can become unhelpful, inaccurate or overly critical. Over time, these thinking patterns can influence how we feel, the decisions we make and the way we respond to everyday situations.

CBT helps identify these patterns and helps a person challenge and modify unhelpful thoughts, replacing them with more balanced and realistic ways of thinking. At the same time, it encourages practical behavioural changes that reinforce healthier habits and aims to improve emotional wellbeing.

Rather than simply talking about problems, CBT is an active and collaborative form of therapy. Together with your psychologist, you'll develop practical skills that you can continue using long after therapy has finished.

CBT does not only focus on the present, but it also explores how past experiences have contributed to the development of a person’s current patterns.

How CBT Works

The importance of thoughts. CBT is based on a simple but powerful idea:

The way we think affects how we feel, and how we feel influences what we do.

In CBT, thoughts are considered central to emotional experience and behaviour. The model proposes that it is not events themselves that determine how people feel, but rather the meaning they attach to those events. Two people can experience the same situation yet respond very differently because they interpret it in different ways.

CBT distinguishes between automatic thoughts, underlying assumptions or rules, and core beliefs. Automatic thoughts are the rapid, often unnoticed interpretations that occur in everyday situations. These thoughts are influenced by deeper assumptions (e.g., "I must never fail") and core beliefs about oneself, others, and the world (e.g., "I'm not good enough"). These have often been developed through experiences in life.

When thoughts are inaccurate, overly negative, or unhelpful, they can contribute to emotional distress and unhelpful behaviours. For example, interpreting a friend's delayed text message as "They don't like me anymore" may lead to anxiety, sadness, and withdrawal, even though there may be many alternative explanations.

Cognitive distortions

Cognitive distortions are common patterns of unhelpful thinking. Most people use one or more of these patterns at times. Research suggests that people experiencing significant anxiety or depression are more likely to have these thoughts frequently, and that recovery often involves developing more balanced ways of thinking.

Working with thoughts

A key aim of CBT is to help clients become aware of these thinking patterns, evaluate the evidence for and against them, and develop more balanced and realistic perspectives. This process is known as cognitive restructuring or cognitive reappraisal.

Cognitive Restructuring in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive restructuring is one of the core techniques used in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Rather than encouraging "positive thinking," CBT promotes accurate, flexible, and evidence-based thinking that better reflects reality.

The process of cognitive restructuring

Identify the situation

Begin by identifying the event or trigger that led to the emotional reaction. This helps establish the context in which the unhelpful thoughts occurred.

Notice automatic thoughts

Identify the immediate thoughts or mental images that came to mind. These thoughts are often rapid, habitual, and accepted as facts rather than interpretations.

Examine the evidence

Evaluate the thought by asking questions such as:

What evidence supports this thought?
What evidence does not support it?
Am I overlooking important information?
Am I making assumptions or jumping to conclusions?
What would I say to a friend in the same situation?

Identify Thinking Biases

Consider whether the thought reflects a common cognitive distortion, such as:

Catastrophising
All-or-nothing thinking
Mind reading
Fortune telling
Overgeneralisation
Emotional reasoning
Personalisation

Recognising these biases helps clients understand that thoughts are not always accurate reflections of reality.

Generate a balanced alternative thought

Develop an alternative interpretation that is realistic, compassionate, and supported by the available evidence. The aim is not to convince yourself that everything will be fine, but to arrive at a conclusion that is fair and balanced.

For example:

Automatic Thought

Balanced Alternative

"I'm going to fail."

"This is challenging, but I've coped with difficult situations before."

"Everyone thinks I'm incompetent."

"Some people may disagree with me, but there is no evidence that everyone thinks this."

"If I make a mistake, everything will fall apart."

"Mistakes happen to everyone and are usually opportunities to learn."

Re-rate Your Belief and Emotion

After considering the evidence and developing an alternative thought, rate how strongly you believe the original thought and how intense the emotion feels. Many people notice that although the thought may not disappear completely, it becomes less convincing and their emotional distress decreases.

The importance of behaviour

Importantly, modern CBT recognises that changing behaviour is often just as important as changing thoughts. Behavioural experiments, exposure, and behavioural activation allow clients to test their beliefs through real-world experience, creating new learning that often supports to changes in thinking.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) - Brisbane 1

Relaxation strategies and problem solving

Relaxation strategies such as progressive muscular relaxation and slowed breathing activities assist in managing some of the bodily responses associated with distress. Additionally, problem solving techniques can assist a person to identify what helpful changes they may make to problems in their life.

When is CBT is used?

CBT is widely used to support people experiencing a broad range of emotional, behavioural and psychological challenges.

Your psychologist may recommend CBT to help with:

Anxiety

Depression

Trauma

OCD

Adjustment to life events

Panic attacks

Work stress

Social anxiety & self-esteem

Perfectionism

Stress & Burnout

Health anxiety

Anger

What happens during CBT sessions?

CBT is a structured and collaborative process that moves at a pace that feels comfortable for you.

Getting to know you and collecting a history

Your first sessions focus on understanding your current concerns, including symptoms, and your past experiences and history.

Setting goals

Together, you and your psychologist identify clear goals that reflect what matters most to you. This might also include a plan for how many sessions are needed to work towards your goals.

Completing Questionnaires

You might also complete some questionnaires that assess your symptoms and key areas for change. These questionnaires might be readministered at various points during the intervention to track your progress towards your goals.

Understanding patterns

You'll explore how your thoughts, emotions, physical responses and behaviours interact in different situations. You and your psychologist will work on a mutual formulation of your difficulties. This will also include an understanding of what previous experiences have contributed to the development of your current patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

Learning practical strategies

Your psychologist will introduce evidence-based techniques that help you approach difficult situations differently. This could include, for example, thought recording, identifying unhelpful thoughts, thought challenging, behavioural experiments, relaxation training, sleep strategies, graded exposure, behavioural activation, or problem solving, for example.

Applying new skills

Together with your psychologist, you will work out ways to apply these skills in between sessions. This is often called “homework” and is where the magic happens in terms of consolidation of changes.

Reviewing progress

Throughout therapy, you'll regularly review your progress, celebrate improvements and adjust strategies where needed.

CBT is evodemce based

CBT is one of the most extensively researched psychological treatments in mental health. More than 2,000 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and hundreds of systematic reviews and meta-analyses have evaluated its effectiveness. Because of this evidence base, CBT is recommended as a first-line treatment in most international clinical practice guidelines, including:

2,000+

randomized controlled trials

NICE

Recommended first-line (UK)

APA

Recommended first-line (US)

RANZCP

Recommended first-line (AU/NZ)

CBT targets the patterns that keep psychological distress going. It helps people recognise unhelpful thoughts, test them against evidence, reduce avoidance and practice more helpful behaviours.

For depression, behavioural activation can increases meaningful and rewarding activity. For anxiety, graded exposure can help people learn that feared situations can be tolerated and that predicted outcomes often do not occur.

CBT is also practical and skills-based. Clients learn strategies they can continue using after therapy, such as cognitive restructuring, problem-solving, exposure and relapse prevention.

Research indicates that CBT and antidepressant medication have similar effectiveness for many people with depression, particularly mild to moderate depression. For more severe or chronic depression, combining CBT with antidepressant medication is often more effective than either treatment alone.

Is CBT right for you?

Our psychologists take the time to understand your circumstances before recommending an approach that best suits your goals. In some cases, CBT may be used on its own, while in others it may be combined with approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Schema Therapy, EMDR or other evidence-based therapies.

Our focus is always on providing the approach that is most likely to support your individual needs and preferences, and not applying the same therapy to everyone.

SENIOR CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST

Megan Samuel

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST

FAQ’s about CBT

How many CBT sessions will I need?

The number of sessions varies depending on your goals, the challenges you're experiencing and your progress over time. Your psychologist will discuss an appropriate treatment plan with you. More information: https://www.hardwickpsychologicalservices.com.au/how-many-psychology-sessions-will-i-need/

Is CBT evidence based?

Yes. CBT is one of the most extensively researched psychological therapies and is supported by decades of scientific evidence.

Will I have homework?

Sometimes. Your psychologist may suggest activities to practice between sessions, but these are always discussed collaboratively and tailored to your circumstances. Carrying out in-between session tasks is actually how you take the things you have learned in therapy and apply it to your everyday life.

Can CBT be provided via telehealth?

Yes. CBT can often be delivered effectively through secure telehealth appointments where clinically appropriate.

Is CBT only about changing thoughts?

No. CBT also focuses on behaviours, emotional responses, coping strategies and practical skills that support lasting change. CBT may also explore how past experiences, such as those from your early life, have shaped the development of beliefs and behavioural patterns over time.

Sources:

This page was clinically reviewed by Dr Sascha Hardwick, Clinical Psychologist & Clinical Neuropsychologist, Registered psychologist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Review date: July 2026.