Why CBT questionnaires are an important part of therapy

So, you’re starting cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and your therapist has asked you to complete a set of questionnaires. You might be wondering what role this will play in your treatment and how it will help you.

Questionnaires are a really important part of CBT. The answers that you give on your questionnaire will give your therapist an idea of your current state of mind and flag any problems, so that they can get a better understanding of your mental health.

To give an example, if you’re experiencing depression, you might feel like there’s an enormous weight that holds you down and prevents you from living the life that you want to live. The questionnaire is like a scale that measures how heavy your depression has been recently.

Over the course of your therapy sessions, you will continue to fill out regular questionnaires so that your therapist can monitor any changes in your mental health and measure your progress.  

It’s really common for healthcare providers to use measures to assess health problems. For instance, if you had a fever, a doctor might use a thermometer to take your temperature, then prescribe you some form of treatment to bring it down. To test whether the treatment has worked, they might take your temperature again and compare it to the initial measure.  

Think of CBT questionnaires as a thermometer for your mental health. Throughout your therapy sessions, questionnaires are used to keep track of your difficulties. You and your therapist can then look back over the questionnaires to see if your mental health is improving and how well the treatment is working.  

While it’s helpful to track your progress, remember that it’s okay if it takes some time for you to recover from a mental health issue. Every person and situation is different, so try not to compare yourself or feel too disheartened if you don’t improve right away. The most important thing is that you’re trying.  

CBT at ieso

At ieso, we offer typed CBT, which is where the patient and therapist speak to each other by typing back and forward. Although typed CBT is just as effective as face-to-face CBT, we do offer video calls in some areas.  

Your therapy sessions will take place via our online platform, where you’ll also be asked to complete questionnaires before every session. All of our questionnaires are multiple choice; some questions will be general and others may be very specific. The results are recorded and you can view your scores to see your progress. Our service is flexible and free for some NHS patients. Find out more about how it works.

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