When my Community Mental Health nurse said she was giving me a course of CAT Therapy I asked myself the same question,what is CAT Therapy?

CAT stands for Cognitive Analytic Therapy; is a therapy technique that looks 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).

After being on the Mental Health team for over a year, they finally decided to give me some much-needed therapy.

I had already had 12 sessions of CBT therapy and almost a year’s worth of Psycho Therapy with a private therapist which cost me hundreds of pounds.

I wasn’t even sure whether CAT therapy would work, considering none of the other treatments had, but I decided to give them a go. I was supposed to have 12 sessions, but I only had 11 before the CMHT decided to discharge me.

During my CAT Therapy sessions, I was asked to draw a mind map that included a happy place (which was a desert island) and a bad place (a sea of sharks) with arrows leading to highs, lows, and in-between moods.

I was also handed some internet printouts to read and go through during the 45-minute sessions.

Did I find these sessions beneficial?

I managed to finish the map of my whole life journey within a few sessions.

I still feel like I could still do with some more therapy but without a proper diagnosis, I’m not sure which therapy would be best for me.

I attend a Bipolar group monthly, where there are people who have better control of their illness than me and are very honest with giving me advice on staying healthy and safe.

I’m also still waiting for Outlook South West to work out whether they are going to help me or whether they are going to put me back on the mental health team for a proper diagnosis and more therapy.

Have you or someone you know ever had CAT Therapy?

What are your thoughts on CAT Therapy?

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