This is the therapy most often used nowadays to treat most stress-related illnesses, because it works (it has a lot of evidence behind it) and it tends to do so quickly (unlike exploratory/psychodynamic/analytical therapy). This makes it both practical and affordable, important in today's health service. Unfortunately, it can still be difficult to access through the NHS, because often few resources are set aside for this type of treatment. Nonetheless, if you are persistent, you should be able to get CBT without paying for it if you are prepared to wait.

The 'cognitive' part refers to your thoughts and the 'behavioural' part to your actions. The therapist will look for the negative thinking patterns that underpin your experiences of stress and then dig further for the deeply held underlying assumptions that underpin them. A negative thought may be: i will do badly in the presentation I have to do tomorrow.' The underlying assumptions may be: I will always be found wanting' and if I ever get optimistic, fate will play a trick on me'. If you habitually think this way, you will suffer from stress, whatever you do. It isn't your fault, because you've been taught to expect the worst from an early age, by bitter experience. But until you learn to think realistically, to unlearn the faulty learning, to reprogramme the computer which is your brain, you won't be consistently happy and will be prone to stress-related illness.

CBT does this by taking the thoughts and assumptions that plague you and challenging them in a very structured way. Through taking your experiences as they happen, looking at how the emotions they lead to reflect your habitual thinking errors and then challenging them, the therapist will teach you to think realistically, therefore experiencing the world as a less threatening place in which you have more control and influence than you realized. You will be asked to record events, thoughts, emotions and mood and to see for yourself how challenging negative thinking patterns makes you feel better. Once it has worked, you will be able to identify your thinking errors promptly on the spot and to change them. You will become your own travelling therapist.

I CBT myself every day. It works. There are plenty of opportunities to feel bad in my job. I've learned to deal with these realistically, which allows me to absorb the ups and downs thrown me by my patients without being affected too much. This keeps me effective and well. I can't recommend CBT highly enough, if you can find a good therapist.