Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
You may have heard of CBT or had it recommended to you, but still be unsure what it would involve in practice.
I’m Dr Choe Ching, a clinical psychologist offering individual therapy for adults in Singapore. Cognitive behavioural therapy is one of the approaches I use to help people understand their difficulties and work towards changes in everyday life.
Understanding the patterns
CBT explores how your interpretations, feelings, physical responses and actions influence one another.
Imagine being asked to contribute during a meeting. You might anticipate making a mistake, notice yourself becoming tense, and decide to stay quiet. Afterwards, you may feel relieved but remain uncertain about how others would have responded if you had spoken.
In therapy, we can slow down an experience like this and look at its different parts. We consider what you expected, what you noticed, and what you did to cope. This can help us identify where a different response might be useful.
What we would do in sessions
We begin with the difficulties you want help with and what you would like to be different. I will ask questions to understand your perspective, and we will develop an explanation of the problem together.
Depending on your needs, we may examine an interpretation, explore another possibility, practise a skill, or agree on a manageable activity to try between sessions. At the next appointment, we can discuss what happened, what you learned, and what needs adjusting.
Your reactions to the work matter. If an exercise feels unclear, difficult or unhelpful, that is something we can talk through. The aim is to develop an approach you understand and can use in your own life.
How I use CBT
I consider both your current difficulties and the experiences that have shaped how you respond. Alongside CBT, I may draw on Schema Therapy, mindfulness or psychodynamic approaches, depending on what we are working on.
We will review your goals and progress together. The length and focus of therapy will depend on your concerns and how the work develops.
If anxiety is what brings you here, my Anxiety Treatment page explains more about that area of my practice.
Starting a conversation
An initial telephone conversation gives us an opportunity to discuss your concerns and whether working together would be suitable.
I offer 50-minute individual sessions at 72A Neil Road, Singapore, and online. Please get in touch if you would like to ask about appointments or fees.