The ACT Counselling Services Team regularly deliver several 1 day CPD events on ‘Working with Narcissistic Personality Disorder’. Whilst we thoroughly enjoyed delivering the workshops and the feedback received was excellent we did find it a challenge. The challenge lay in attempting to change the public as well as Therapist’s attitudes towards those who are unfortunate enough to have a narcissistic personality type.

They are not ‘monsters’

We found that most workshops at some point became about ridiculing narcissists. This seems to be a very common reaction. In fact, a lot of articles that we have read over the last year in magazines with a psychology focus appear to advocate how awful and damaging narcissists are. Whilst we agree that it may be the case that narcissists can cause a lot of psychological damage, we strongly express that ‘there is no point or value in turning people into monsters.’ Are we not in the profession of care and compassion?

Our conclusion…

Our team discussions have led us to the conclusion that lack of understanding is possibly a large contributor to the attitudes held towards people with narcissistic traits or indeed the disorder. As a result, we hope to provide a little information on what actually lies beneath the disorder with a view to promoting understanding, compassion and a willingness to work with people with NPD or NPD traits.

What lies behind NPD…

The common belief amongst most folks is that people with the way of being associated with NPD have had ‘too much of a good thing,’ or have been ‘repeatedly told how special and wonderful they are,’ furthermore that ‘you are better than others.’ This in our experience is not the case. People with NPD have experienced high levels of emotional deprivation and conditional approval. The reality is actually that they have been given the message by their significant caregivers that they are defective unless they meet with the conditions set by the caregivers. So in other words, ‘you are only acceptable if you are perfect, achieve, gain recognition for the caregiver, be the best, do not show weakness, do not show emotion.’

The reality is that sadness, loneliness, isolation and hollowness sums up the Narcissists existence. We would suggest that this is not something to be mocked and ridiculed but understood and empathised with. A common trait in narcissism is a lack of empathy, unless there is a shift in the public and Therapist’s perception we are treating these people in the same way that we mock them for.

Want to know more?

If this article has been helpful and you want to know more about training or treatment for NPD then please get in touch and we will be delighted to help. You can call us on 0141 554 0838 or email us here.

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The ACT Counselling Services Team will shortly be delivering a 1-day CPD event titled ‘Borderline Personality Disorder, Neuroscience and Psychotherapy.’ This will take place on Saturday the 15^th of October 2016 at Stirling Baptist Church and Family Life Centre, 2^nd Floor, 61-63 Murray Place, Stirling, FK8 1AP. ACT Counselling Services Ltd are a private training provider who’s staff have a huge amount of experience of working with complex cases. Staff members have worked in the most challenging settings with the most severe and enduring types of disorder. We are passionate about sharing our knowledge, experience and conclusions to enable others to understand and/or work with complex cases.

What is Borderline Personality Disorder?

Borderline Personality Disorder or BPD for short is one of the most challenging presentations for clinicians to treat. It is, without doubt, the disorder that costs the taxpayer the most money on a yearly basis. Despite these considerations, there is still little training on working with BPD, services available to treat BPD and Clinicians remain reluctant to add the treatment of BPD to their repertoire.

People often ask us ‘what is BPD?’ ‘Can it be treated?’ and ‘how does one even begin to treat it?’ Put very simply, the person who has received a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder constantly flips between different ‘schema modes.’ Modes are considered to be ‘states’ rather than ‘traits’ and are fleeting, short terms ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. Folks with a diagnosis of BPD will frequently ‘flip’ between the ‘vulnerable child,’ ‘Punitive Parent,’ ‘Demanding Parent,’ ‘Angry child,’ and ‘Detached Protector,’ although not necessarily in this order.

What does this mean?

The above means that the person who has been diagnosed with BPD spends very little time in the ‘Healthy Adult,’ ‘Nurturing Parent,’ and ‘Happy Child’ modes and this has a significant impairment on their quality of life.

BPD was for a long time considered to be untreatable but things have changed and it can easily be treated by clinicians with the correct knowledge, skills and attitude. In a universe based on opposites, one need not just ‘be,’ one can ‘become’ the person they were supposed to be.

Get in touch to find out more

If you are interested in finding out more, then please get in touch. You can call ACT Counselling and CBT Services in Glasgow on 0141 554 0838 or email us here.

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With CBT group therapy, where clients are given the opportunity to work with their counsellor on a 1:1 basis regarding the substance and attend a group to address, arguably two of the most common underlying mental health issues associated with substance misuse, anxiety and depression.

Respective anxiety and depression manuals were compiled and given to each group member for them to use on a weekly basis and indeed keep for future reference after the group ended. In true CBT tradition, an inventory was completed on a weekly basis and cross-referenced with the previous week. Examples of other items covered throughout each group are:

-Cognitive distortions

-Automatic thoughts

-Thought records

-Identifying emotions

– Controlling breathing exercises

-Progressive muscle relaxation

-Graded exposure

-Daily achievement journal

-Behavioural activation

-Safe place imagery

-Activity schedule

-Rumination

-Strengths and qualities

Group work and its benefits…

There was always time for group discussion which led to another vital part of any group, that being mutual aid. As a facilitator, it is a privilege to witness catharsis, universality and the installation of hope within each group I have been part of. Indeed bringing each group to an end, listening to the changes that have been made and plans to do more of what has helped is inspiring and motivational to me. There is no better feeling than playing a small part in another human beings recovery.

As with any therapeutic/psychoeducational setting, without the core conditions of genuineness, acceptance and empathy, neither groups nor 1:1 settings would have very little chance of building rapport, therapeutic alliance, working alliance, call it what you will, between the presenter/facilitator and attendees. Effective psychotherapy in any setting requires an effective therapeutic alliance between client(s) and therapist/facilitator.

Diploma Course…

The ACT Counselling Services PG Dip Level Diploma in CBT and Groupwork is the ideal course on which to learn and develop the knowledge, skills and attitude to become an effective group facilitator.

To find out more get in touch on 0141 554 0838 or contact us here.

By Mark Vance (PG Dip CBT)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

If you are looking for therapists who offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for a range of mental health issues you can read more about it on this page. We offer therapy at Act Counselling and CBT Services and are happy to speak with you today should you wish to find out more and book in with one of our therapists. Get in touch with us today via our online contact form or call us on 0141 554 0838.

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I recently attended a conference on children’s services within Glasgow where 2 of the keynote speakers highlighted the need to shift away from “labelling” or diagnosing mental health problems in children and move towards “case formulations”. They proposed that we should be thinking from the outset, in partnership with the child and their family about what the difficulties are that need to change and what goals we would like to achieve (ie what changes do we want to see in the child’s mood, behaviour, presentation etc). We would then move on to think about how we are most likely to achieve these goals.

A major shift in practice in child mental health diagnosis

As a social work manager, this shift in approach is already being used within multi-agency meetings I attend within education. It has meant a major shift in practice away from long conversations about the child and their difficulties, to looking at strengths, goals and actions. This has allowed us to be more efficient in terms of use of time and more productive in terms of outcomes from the meetings. Within social work, this approach is also being used both at team meetings with staff as well as meetings with children and their families.

Focus on solutions, not the problem

This struck me as being very similar to the CBT approach. Talking through the presenting issue/problems with the person and identify what changes they would like to achieve so that they are able to live happier, more fulfilling lives. I think one of the benefits of this approach is that it doesn’t focus too much on the problem or the causes of the problem, but rather on what solutions or changes that can be made to achieve one’s goals, with clearly agreed actions being taken forward for the next week to put in place and review.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

If you are looking for therapists who offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for a range of mental health issues you can read more about it on this page. We offer therapy at Act Counselling and CBT Services and are happy to speak with you today should you wish to find out more and book in with one of our therapists. Get in touch with us today via our online contact form or call us on 0141 554 0838.

The post Solution Focused Practice appeared first on ACT Counselling and Training Services Ltd.

The first weekend of 2016 and the staff and students can’t believe how quickly time has gone! The usual post-Christmas chat began, where people discussed what they did, or what little they did over the holiday. What they ate, drank, who they saw (because well its family and I need to visit), how stressful it is going round seeing everyone. A lot of people doing things that they really don’t want to do!

Lapse and relapse prevention

It got the staff thinking about how people indulge over Christmas, with full intentions to change in the new year.  Resolutions are set for the first week in January and then two weeks later, the Dry January/Diet/smoking plan has been completely blown. So why do people fold like a deck of cards? Interestingly, the ACT team were discussing this weeks input on lapse and relapse prevention just now on the CBT Dip course.

Lots of questions…

What is a lapse and what is a relapse and how do they differ? How do you help clients identify their goal, and identify and highlight potential pitfalls, internally and externally? When is the best time to introduce a relapse prevention plan? Well, regardless of the goal, how do you keep going with the plan and not give in to temptation? What stops you from reaching for that delicious bottle of wine chilling in the fridge, or binging on the selection boxes you hid in the cupboard. The very treats that you banned yourself from having and made a promise to yourself were just for emergencies only (like when your fellow colleagues are trying your patience, or the kids are just running around creating chaos, making a mess of the house you have just spent two hours cleaning)

CBT can help break old habits

What stops you from going back to old habits? CBT can help people understand why people do what they do.  It helps identify the thoughts that are the driving force behind behaviour and introduce new, tangible ways of thinking.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

If you are looking for therapists who offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for a range of mental health issues you can read more about it on this page. We offer therapy at Act Counselling and CBT Services and are happy to speak with you today should you wish to find out more and book in with one of our therapists. Get in touch with us today via our online contact form or call us on 0141 554 0838.

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As the next ACT Counselling Services PG Dip Level Diploma in CBT and Groupwork course weekend fast approaches our attention turns to Relapse Prevention in the Models of Therapy input.

Core beliefs

Reflecting on our client’s (indeed, also our own) journey of change and knowing that old core beliefs and conditional beliefs cannot just simply be eradicated, one wonders; how far along the journey of firming up the alternative core beliefs and conditional beliefs do we as CBT Therapists actually take the client? We would suggest that it would be terribly misguided and arrogant to assume that even after 6 months of CBT Therapy, major personality change will have taken place and the old core and conditional beliefs will no longer exert any influence over the client.

Passing on of techniques

Yet we are not necessarily in the business of keeping the client in Therapy long term. As such, surely Relapse Prevention and Management techniques should be skilfully passed onto the client in order to help them remain on the road or change if it gets rocky, or indeed rejoin it if they take a wrong turn.

ACT Counselling Diploma

The importance of detailed inputs on Relapse Prevention and Management as part of a CBT Therapists training can be found in the BABCP Core Curriculum Reference Document on page 16. This is covered in Module 5 of the ACT Counselling Services PG Dip Level Diploma in CBT and Groupwork.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

If you are looking for therapists who offer Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for a range of mental health issues you can read more about it on this page. We offer therapy at Act Counselling and CBT Services and are happy to speak with you today should you wish to find out more and book in with one of our therapists. Get in touch with us today via our online contact form or call us on 0141 554 0838.

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