Nishat Ahmed

In addition to working in private practice Nishat Ahmed has worked in the NHS since 2015, delivering evidence-based CBT interventions to individuals presenting with Anxiety and Depressive disorders. Nishat is currently a Senior CBT Therapist at the Maudsley Hospital specialising in Neuropsychiatry, working in particular with Functional Neurological Disorders and Dissociative Seizures.

The main Psychological approach practiced by Nishat is High Intensity CBT. However, she is also able to incorporate Third Wave approaches such as Mindfulness and Compassion-Focused therapy in order to compliment the individual’s therapeutic experience. 

In therapy, Nishat will focus on helping you to make positive changes within your life and emphasises the importance of the therapeutic relationship. She will work with you in a structured, yet reflective manner in order to ensure you are comfortable enough to open up and share your difficult experiences. The alliance she is able to form with her clients enables her to encourage motivation and confidence in them to make the changes in their life that will make a difference. Ultimately, she is determined to get you to be your best potential by managing distressing emotions and physical symptoms, as you learn to change the way you think and behave in trigger situations.  

Nishat goes on a journey with you to collaboratively discover what it is that is maintaining your current problems. She values your time and gives you a space to understand and explore how your past and childhood experiences may have had an impact on you in the here and now. She will then work on challenging and reshaping negative thoughts and beliefs that continue to maintain your difficulties. There will also be the opportunity to discover if there are specific behaviours that are keeping your problems going, and if so, you will work on changing these behaviours to healthier ones in order to break out of vicious cycles that you may find yourself trapped in. Therapy will be supplemented by resources and in between sessions to ensure you are able to consolidate and reflect on any learning from sessions. Nishat will also use Psychometric Outcome Measures to assess and monitor your symptoms and progress throughout therapy to ensure you are meeting your goals. The aim is for you to learn to be your own therapist by practicing techniques and implementing a healthier balance in your thinking and behavioural patterns. 

Nishat’s skill set and experience has allowed her to successfully work with and treat individuals with the following diagnoses/problems:

• Generalised Anxiety / Worry
• Social Anxiety 
• Health Anxiety
• OCD
• Panic Disorder / Panic Attacks
• Phobias
• PTSD (single and complex trauma)
• Depression / Low mood
• Stress
• Low Self-Esteem
• Perfectionism
• Insomnia / Sleep Issues
• Depersonalisation/Derealisation
• Habit Disorders
• Functional Neurological Disorder
• Post-Concussion Syndrome
• Dissociative Seizures

Psychological techniques used in therapy consist of but are not limited to:

• Socratic Questioning / Guided Discovery
• Exposure Therapy
• Behavioural Experiments
• Exposure/Response Prevention
• Behavioural Activation / Activity Scheduling
• Cognitive Restructuring 
• Metacognitive
• Narrative Expressive Writing
• Visualisation / Imagery
• Mindfulness / Relaxation

Nishat Ahmed has a proven track record of helping clients to achieve their goals, relieve symptoms of Depression/Anxiety, and support them in maintaining a journey of wellbeing and clarity within their lives and future.