CAT stands for Cognitive Analytic Therapy; a collaborative programme for looking at the way a person thinks, feels and acts, and the events and relationships that underlie these experiences (often from childhood or earlier in life). As its name suggests, it brings together ideas and understanding from different therapies into one user-friendly and effective therapy.
It is a programme of therapy that is tailored to a person’s individual needs and to his or her own manageable goals for change. It is a time-limited therapy - between 4 and 24 weeks, but typically 16. It is available in many parts of the NHS. There are also private CAT therapists across the UK and overseas.
At its heart is an empathic relationship between the client and therapist within the therapeutic boundaries, the purpose of which is to help the client make sense of their situation and to find ways of making changes for the better.
What are the origins of CAT?
CAT was developed in the early 1980’s by Dr Anthony Ryle at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London. CAT developed as a public health response to the mental health needs of a busy inner London area, and this concern with access and equity remains at the heart of the model. He felt it important to offer a short-term focused therapy for use in the health service; a therapy that integrated the best of different approaches to people’s problems and that could be researched and refined with the growing experience of clients and therapists.
CAT is about:
For more information:
For much more information about CAT, please go to the Association for Cognitive Analytic Therapy (ACAT) website: www.acat.me.uk
The ACAT website holds a full list of accredited CAT therapists (therapist/practitioners and psychotherapists) who are current members of ACAT and this can be found under the Register of Members: http://www.acat.me.uk/page/register+of+acat+members
We have therapists specialising in Cognitive Analytic Therapy at the following centres....