Cognitive behaviour therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a therapy used for the treatment of Depression.  This Therapy has been in the news a lot recently as the government have ploughed a lot of money and media exposure into this particular type of therapy, in the hope that people who are depressed and on benefits, will get well, and return to work, and consequently the unemployment figures will go down.

However the cynics have criticized this and said its not all its cracked up to be, and the government have been fooled into thinking this is the next super therapy. I disagree with this, as I am a Counsellor myself, and have used CBT techniques, with my clients and diaries of events and behaviour, and found it to be very empowering, positive, and moved my clients into a better  place, which helped them 
to move forward and have much happier lives. 

CBT is used for clients who are having difficulty here and now in their lives, it relates to every day being interrupted, with thoughts of anger, hopelessness, and negative thoughts about the future.  This is why this therapy is particularly useful for very depressed clients.It is based around gathering information, analyzing that information, and allowing the client to see the evidence they have gathered
themselves. Once this has been done the client can see there is no evidence to back up their negative thoughts, they realise it is a process that they have learned, that can be let go now, as it does not serve them well anymore. All the resources used in this therapy are down to the clients participation, it is their thoughts, behaviour, and consequences used in these diaries. 

All the counsellor does is facilitate this. I feel it is wrong of Andrew Samuels to say " the client is a recipient of instructions or suggestions. They are told they're thinking is wrong"  this is not the case in my experience at all, it is  two way process, which cannot happen without the clients full participation, and uses the clients words, thoughts, and expressions.