Compassion focused therapy (CFT) aims to help people to develop compassionate skills and to learn to apply these to themselves. By developing compassionate skills, you should find that you are able to enhance the soothing system, and to ensure that this is more in balance with the threat system and the drive system. The expectation…
Cognitive Analytic Therapy is an accredited structured psychological therapy that is usually offered an an individual therapy, but can be done as a couple or in a group. CAT is a time limited therapy and the number of sessions (16, 24 or 32) will usually be agreed at the start of treatment. Following regular therapy…
People often find that they frequently use certain ways of thinking and acting that do not achieve what they want, but yet are hard to change. Tony Ryle, who originally developed CAT as a psychological therapy, noticed three main patterns of unhelpful thinking and acting – he termed these Traps, Dilemmas and Snags. A key…
The psychotherapy file is a questionnaire used in cognitive analytic therapy to assist in identifying a person’s emotions, thinking and behaviours that are relevant to their identified aims in therapy. It provides a quick way of getting a lot of information about a person’s experiences in relationships with others, and with themselves. Traps, dilemmas and…
Below we have listed a few resources which we or the families we have worked with have found helpful in thinking about supporting a friend or family member with an eating disorder. Of course there are other resources, so do feel free to let us know if you have found any other helpful books or…
Trauma is the response to a distressing or disturbing event. The longer we live, the more inevitable it is that we will experience some kind of trauma. Probably around a third of people have experienced some kind of traumatic event during their lifetimes, and around 70% of people who meet diagnostic criteria for a recognised mental…
Dissociation is a psychological experience in which people feel disconnected from their sensory experiences (sight, hearing etc), their sense of self, or their personal history. It is usually experienced as a feeling of intense alienation or unreality, in which the person suddenly loses their sense of where they are, who they are, or what they…
Traumatic memories are thought to be stored in a different part of the brain from processed memories (the amygdala rather than the hippocampus). This is important because whilst the hippocampus is involved in memory forming, organising, and storing long-term memories, the amygdala attaches strong emotional significance to memories, but is unable to store when or…
Whilst our “ideal” or “desirable” body shape is culturally determined, recent studies have shown that body weight is strongly influenced by genetic and familial patterns. This is quite at odds with the messages presented by the media and by the diet industry: that anyone can achieve any body weight. We know from studies looking at twins…
Last Updated: 20 February 2026 There are many serious physical, psychological and emotional consequences of a severe or long-term eating disorder. Most of these are reversible following recovery, however some are not. Some of the consequences are potentially life threatening. If we think that your physical health could be at risk at assessment, we will…
The following are excerpts from a number of ‘life stories’ written by people who have or are experiencing long term anorexia. They were asked to think about how they experience anorexia now, and what they wish they have known at the start of their anorexia. “Anorexia is a surprisingly powerful mental illness. It deceives you…
Good health is a balance between social, spiritual, mental and physical well-being. Mental and emotional health depend upon good physical health and nutrition, along with rest and exercise. If the nutritional needs of your body are not met, sleep patterns can become disturbed, the capacity to do physical exercise can become impaired, mental concentration…
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