ABSTRACT
Thoughts, feelings and behaviours influence each other. A change in one part of a system will influence other parts of the system. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) aims to help people identify their extreme negative thinking patterns and to get a more balanced view about situations. It involves diarising the thoughts and feelings that are associated with different situations and then looking at evidence for and against any extreme thinking. In their very practical book, The Fifteen Minute Hour: Therapeutic Talk in Primary Care, Stuart and Lieberman help primary care practitioners apply CBT principles in their brief patient encounters. Talking about problems all the time runs the risk of reinforcing the negative emotional state of the patient. Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) has been studied in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. In IPT treatment of bulimia, talk about food is not permitted, yet research has confirmed that IPT has therapeutic long-term results equivalent to CBT.
