WCPT-AWP & IAP International

(PRWEB) September 19, 2006

Anyone feeling depressed, under stress or anxious no longer needs to face the embarrassment of visiting a cognitive behavioural therapist to sort out the problem. Instead they can go online from the comfort of their own home to obtain an interactive therapy service.

Its called ThinkWell and according to its creator Dr McNally the service marks the arrival in Britain of the virtual therapist.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) be one of the preferred routes for treatment of individuals experiencing mild to moderate depression. The reality of mental health service provision across the United Kingdom means, however, that in certain trusts individuals experiencing mild to moderate depression may need to wait months if not years before they are able to see a suitably qualified CBT therapist on the NHS.

ThinkWell is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which says Dr McNally is an effective treatment of depression and other mental health problems.

Unlike face-to-face therapy with a clinical psychologist, ThinkWell is conducted in its entirety between the client and the ThinkWell computer system via the ThinkWell website. The client is taken step-by-step through a CBT programme consisting of a series of themes. Each theme teaches the client techniques for dealing with aspects of their mood such as counteracting negative thoughts, recognising and differentiating feelings, thoughts and behaviours as well as a range of skills such as though counting and cue cards to help improve their mood.

ThinkWell includes a comprehensive progress guide “MyThinkwell” to help the client to follow the course of therapy, track their progress and return to sections for review and to repeat the many interactive exercises, questionnaires and quizzes.

Finally, clients can download material for their own use – these include activity monitoring, thought records and behavioural experiments.

NICE highlighted that extensive research suggested that the delivery of CBT via a computer could be of value in the management of anxiety and depressive disorders. Individuals experiencing mild to moderate degrees of depression and anxiety may gain benefit by working through computer guided CBT packages to determine whether they experience symptom relief before attempting to access live therapists in a stretched NHS.

About ThinkWell (http://www.thinkwell.co.uk)

ThinkWell was founded in 1999 to provide professional cognitive behavioural therapy to clients with mild mental health problems such as depression, stress and anxiety. ThinkWell has pioneered the use of computer and Internet applications to aid and support delivery of effective Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

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