All About the Tranceformental CBT Programme for Mental Heath Problems & Personal Improvement Goals in Wolverhampton & West Midlands

What is Tranceformental CBT?

The Tranceformental CBT programme builds upon the proven, evidence-based foundations of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy by adopting a set of additional protocols that tackle the underlying reasons WHY a person might develop unhelpful cognition.

When following a course of ‘conventional’ CBT the therapist and client spend most of the sessions examining ‘thoughts’ that lead to certain ’emotions’ or ‘behaviours’.

This is one of the central pillars of CBT, that thoughts CREATE emotions.

Much of the ‘work’ therefore focuses on ‘changing thoughts’ to produce different emotions, or emotional outcomes.

Research evidence has suggested that this cognition-focused approach does produce quick results, but that over the long term, unhelpful thoughts and cognition can ‘creep’ back into the mind leading to the production of old symptoms.

It is our assertion that the reason for the ‘short-lived’ effects of conventional CBT approaches is that the REASON for the unhelpful thoughts has not been tackled.

The Coherence of ‘Unhelpful’ Thoughts

People generally do not create unhelpful thoughts without there being, at some level, a logical and coherent reason for doing so, even if the situation that demanded that ‘thought’ was many years ago and within a very specific set of circumstances.

Many coping skills and strategies that are derived from early (childhood for example) experiences may have been relevant, useful and appropriate at the time, but are unlikely to be quite so helpful many years later!

The Restructuring Beliefs Rationale

If we really want to make long-lasting changes to our unhelpful thoughts and cognition then we need to tackle the underlying beliefs that created the coherence of those thoughts and, in so doing, eliminate the rationale for those thoughts in the first place.

This is the approach taken in our Tranceformental CBT programme.

Conventional CBT approaches focus almost exclusively on the middle level (thoughts and cognition) with the aim of changing those thoughts through the use of various techniques designed to address the logic, or not, of any particular thought.

The Tranceformental CBT programme begins by developing an understanding of the more fundamental, underlying ‘belief systems’ (particularly and limiting beliefs) and ‘core values’ that each person has, and then moves onto how those beliefs have ‘led directly’ to the production of unhelpful thinking styles and outcomes.

The Three Core Domains of Experience

Our core beliefs and values can be characterised within just three essential experiential areas, which are known as the INTRA-PERSONAL, INTER-PERSONAL & EXTRA-PERSONAL or CONTEXTUAL domains.

These three domains ‘capture’ all of our life experiences and have a very strong, correlation relationship with each other. What this means is that each domain directly affects the other two domains, and so on for each area.

In brief, these domains contain beliefs and values related to the following concepts:

The Contextual Domain – how we believe the basic ‘mechanics’ of the ‘external’ environment ‘works’. Most importantly, this domain contains beliefs about how much ‘influence’ we are able to exert over the context, or whether the context ‘controls’ our experiences.
The Inter-Personal Domain – contains the beliefs and values we have in relation to our social interactions with all other people as well as with the ‘social rules and regulations’.
The Intra-Personal Domain – contains the way we think about, relate-to and evaluate OURSELVES.

In the Tranceformental CBT programme we measure the beliefs contained within each discrete domain using a set of ‘inventories’ or ‘tests’ designed to provide a ‘picture’ of the current configurations of beliefs that may lead to unhelpful thoughts.

Developing Effective Solutions

By understanding how our core beliefs and values can then lead (logically) to certain cognitive distortions, unhelpful thinking styles and an array of safety behaviours, we can provide a range of proven tools and techniques that directly address any given ‘problem’.

This process of identifying, understanding and then changing core limiting beliefs and values, form the bulk of the work carried-out during the programme which generally takes place over a ten week period which provides a sufficient timescale for the ‘extinction’ and ‘re-habituation’ of new patterns of thinking.

What’s Involved?

The 10 module Tranceformental CBT programme is available with three different levels of support and involves using our online web portal to learn and develop the key understandings and skills needed to make changes to unhelpful cognition.

10 module course as a self-directed course without clinical support – £149
10 module course with 2 X 1 hour clinical sessions (face-to-face or Zoom Online – £299)
10 module course with 5 X 1 hour clinical sessions (face-to-face or Zoom Online – £499)
10 module course with 10 X 1 hour clinical sessions (face-to-face or Zoom Online – £799)

You can also buy the course on a session-by-session basis at £90 per session.

By following this interactive process and discussing your progress with Paul in the clinical sessions (either in-clinic or using zoom), you will create new, more helpful ways of thinking about your problems and bring about changes to the way that you feel.

Each module in the online course takes around a week to complete and typically requires 3 to 5 hours of work in-between sessions. The course includes a downloadable workbook used to carry-out the ‘change work’.

This ‘homework’ component is an essential element of the programme as many of the changes that take place in your beliefs and values happen as a result of you applying these concepts in your everyday life outside of the clinic setting.

As with conventional CBT, the Tranceformental programme places a high emphasis on clients ‘doing work’ in order to bring about change.

Course Content

The following boxes outline the course contents and the focus of each module:

Module One - The Nature of Change in Psychotherapy

self directed cbt module one mountian landscape

Module ONE addresses the very latest research and knowledge about the nature of personal change within the process of ‘psychotherapy’ and focuses on:

What You Believe TODAY.
Therapy Outcomes.
Therapy Effectiveness.
“Lambert’s Pie”.
Agency.
Expectations.
Motivation and Effort.

Module Two - Beliefs, Values and Worldviews

self directed cbt module two - change your mindset image

Module TWO delves into our beliefs and how they can influence the way that we ‘make sense’ of the World around us and how we percieve what happens in that World, including:

The Genesis of Beliefs.
Challenging the Evidence of Our Beliefs.
Inherited Versus Created Beliefs.
The Unique Character of Our Own Worldviews.
Events DON’T CAUSE Feelings!
The Trap of Conformation Bias.
The Underlying Coherence of Beliefs.
The Three Key Sets of Beliefs that Modify Our Experiences.

Module Three - Autonomy and Control

self directed cbt module three - open doorway image

Module THREE addresses one of the three primary belief ‘systems’ that can affect our perception of reality with a specific focus on what makes us ‘autonomous’ and how we understand the level of ‘control’ we have over our ‘life trajectory’.

Sections include:

The Locus of Control.
Sub-domains within the Locus of Control.
Social and Cultural Influences.
The Past, Present and Future as Mental Constructions.
The Desire for Control.
Responsibility and Blame.
Developing Agency.

Module Four - The Self and Identities

self directed cbt module four - brain puzzle image

Module FOUR addresses our Self-Esteem, where it comes from and how it plays a role in the way that we feel. Sub-sections of this module deal with:

What is Self-Esteem?
The Origins of Self-Esteem.
Our ‘Internal’ Dialogue.
True and False Identities.
How to Boost Your Self-Esteem.
Breaking the Rules and Ditching the Past.
Processing Your Achievements.
Developing Greater Agency.

Module Five - The Social Domain & Social Beliefs

self directed cbt module five - blurred social group image

Module FIVE considers the impact of our beliefs which are related to the ‘social context’ in which we exist and includes consideration of the following concepts:

The Social World.
The Social Construction of Mental Illness.
The Process of Socialisation.
Social Pressures.
External Validation.
Authority.
Collusion and Significant ‘Others’.
Taking Emotional Responsibility.
Developing Social Agency.

Module Six - Safety Behaviours and Thinking Traps

self directed cbt module six - weighing up options image

Module SIX discusses both Safety Behaviours (the strategies that we employ which are designed to keep us ‘safe’) as well as the common Thinking Traps that people can fall into when trying to cope with adversity in life.

The Module includes work on:

Physiological and Psychological Safety Behaviours.
Coping by Surrendering, Avoiding or Over-compensating.
Thinking Traps and Unhelpful Thinking Styles.
Catsatrophising.
Over-generalising.
Mind-Reading.
Polarised Thinking.
Emotional Reasoning.
Blaming.
Filtering and Magnifying.
‘Fortune-Telling’.
Labelling and Categorising.
Personalisation.

The module also provides tools and techniques for dealing with each of these ‘maladaptive’ coping mechanisms.

Module Seven - Language and Linguistics

self directed cbt module seven - nothing or everything image

Module SEVEN delves into the nature of language and how the words that we use can have a profound impact on both how we feel as well as how we form perceptions about our experiences.

Sections include:

Language as the ‘Code’ of Reality.
Words Produce Feelings.
Cognitive Fusion.
Deletion, Generalisation and Distortion.
Negative and Catastrophic Language.
Mediated Language (Language in the Media).
Medicalisation.
Pathologisation.

Module Eight - Anxiety, Depression and Stress

self directed cbt module eight - all limitations are self imposed image

Module EIGHT gets into the ‘nitty gritty’ of the THREE most common expressions of mental distress and how what you have learnt in the course so far can be applied to each of them.

The module discusses:

The Effects of Time.
Types of Danger
Anxiety
The Biology of Anxiety
The Role of Perception
Appropriate Anxiety
Anticipatory Anxiety
Likelihood, Probability & Consequences
Tackling Anxiety
Depression
Diagnosis & Medication
Maintaining Factors
Dealing with Depression
Boost Self-Esteem
Become More Internal
Take Responsibility for Your Emotions
Quit Ruminating
Manage Sleep
Activity Monitoring & Scheduling
Understanding Stress
Threat Perception & Power
Workplace Stress
Coping & Resilience

Module Nine - More Tools for Making Changes

Module NINE provides more tools and techniques that you can use to tackle your specific problems, including:

The Fundamentals of Making Changes.
What you Should Be Doing Already.
Carrying-Out Behavioural Experiments.
Tips for Successful Experiments.
The Downward Arrow Process.
Objective Inversion.
Controlling the Controllable.
Stepping Outside of Your Comfort Zone.

Module Ten - Consolidating Your Improvements

Module TEN is designed to help you to sustain any of the changes that you have made. It provides tools, tips and advice so that you can continue to make personal improvements as an ongoing project including:

Re-assessing Your Core Beliefs.
Sustaining Changes.
It’s All About the Journey, NOT the Destination.
Towards What You Want OR Away From What You Don’t Want?
‘Needs’ Versus ‘Wants’.
Goal Setting

Free Initial Consultations for Tranceformental CBT

We offer all prospective clients an initial consultation to discuss your problems prior to commencing any treatment plans.

The consultation is free and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various options that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available as part of our online therapy service.

At TranceForm Psychology we recognise the importance of the therapeutic relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so its important to be able to ‘meet’ to discuss our change programmes BEFORE proceeding.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking work with us, including both the financial and personal implications.

CBT Principles

This box provides links to the five key CBT principals that underpin Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, the preferred form of psychological therapy used at Tranceform Psychology: