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Anyone else on CBT?
Twenty Eleven
Posts: 306 Forum Member
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What's it like for you, is it helping?
I'm currently wating for my 3rd appointment - the first 2 were ok, the thoughts/feelings/physical/behaviour cycle thing I get now which is a start.
I feel really positive when I come out after my hour but then just go back to normal after a while and over analysing the daily grind and such.
I'm currently wating for my 3rd appointment - the first 2 were ok, the thoughts/feelings/physical/behaviour cycle thing I get now which is a start.
I feel really positive when I come out after my hour but then just go back to normal after a while and over analysing the daily grind and such.
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i can see how it could benefit some people but I think for me, i probably need more specialised help
Saying that, it is the most effective type of treatment for a lot of problems, and a lot of evidence shows that it can have very good results. I would say give it a chance for longer, the third appointment is still early days (do you know how many you're getting altogether?), but if you're concerned about whether it's making a difference do talk to your counsellor/psychologist/whoever is doing the CBT for you, they're there to help you and that means tailoring it to your needs/concerns as much as possible too.
Don't you have to do 'homework' ? Writing down situations/emotions/.... on a daily basis ?
I had to and after a while it does change your thought process.
You have to really involve yourself in it, it's as much about you as it is about the therapist.
I think C.B.T is all about you as an individual. Maybe at that time it wasn't the right thing for you?
I suppose it depends on what the problem was too. C.B.T is a very person-centred therapy, and the emphasis is on the 'client', more than the therapist. I think some people can find this difficult at first.
I went through a few sessions of CBT several years ago to cope with anxiety problems and TBH it did feel like a waste of time.
However I now realise that I did actually absorb some of the advice given to me during that time which has certainlly helped in taking a more rational approach to the causes of that anxiety.
Anything that challenges faulty thinking is most likely good IMO.
Maybe because you also need to tackle your alcohol problem at the same time. Unless you stop drinking, nothing is going to help you
Big surprise
I agree.
CBT requires the client to work alongside the therapist - conducting homework, reflecting, and giving regular feedback about what works and what doesn't. While it is not suitable for everyone, it can be extremely effective.
For those who do not find it useful, they might benefit from existential therapy. Similar to CBT in that it handles the way we think about the work, but less manualised and more challenging.
Today was the first time in 4.5 years that I managed to face by biggest demon, and did it with no massive panic issues.
The "homework" may sound tedious, or not effective, but it did work for me, even if it took rather a long time!
So far it's too early to tell if it will help.
I had 6 sessions last year. First one or two I didn't really feel different, but by the last one I was ready to end them - it was weird - wasn't a gradual thing, almost one morning I woke up and everything had changed. I went to my next appointment and was going to tell her I felt ready to quit, but before I did she said to me that she felt I was much better now and no longer needed the sessions. I had very negative and destructive thought patterns with very low confidence and self esteem, and I am now a completely changed person. Life is happier for me now even when the shit hits the fan!
I went for over a year for my son's OCD.
We were fortunate in that they took the children in a group and worked with them. Then they took the parents and siblings in another group and worked with us.
Because how we react to our children's compulsive behaviour has a large impact on their recovery.
Sometimes we fought against it but the CBT;s were right.
Stick with it, it is not a quick fix, it takes a lot of work a lot.
BUT it is worth it.
It is and how your loved ones respond. So for example if my child wanted me to take his temperature because he felt he was going to be sick. It is natural for me to take his temperature and reassure him.
With OCD you can't do that because it feeds the obsessions or fears, so we had to stop buying into the riguals as parents.
The only other piece of advice I can give you is to explain to those closest to you what the therapist is advising and ask them to change their responses to you.
"For C&&&sts sake, stop checking those doors, germs etc", doesn't help. But saying today do three checks then we're going out, next week we go to two, just as the therapist said" wlll help.
Involve those around you with what you've learned.
If they are willing of course.
You are your therapist would know but it took over a year for us, although we saw huge improvements in the first few months. We have to stay on top of it even now.
It was ok, but I didn't find it really helped me much. I found the overanalysing of every feeling and emotion a load of tosh, which just caused me to dwell on what was wrong and made me depressed. To be honest, what did help the most was just manning up and forcing myself to get out and put myself in situations that made me panic on a daily basis, without the help of a therapist. I know that's not the attitude that's recommended as it has the potential to make problems worse, but it's what worked for me.
Also, they were insistent on me being on drugs while going through the CBT and I had such an awful time on SSRIs that I refused to take anything, which meant that each session started off with them being negative about how much I was actually going to improve. Idiots. :rolleyes:
My mood scores are down for the 3rd time in a row which is good - the scores have actually halved since I 1st started. The home work is going well too, I really have understood the concept now of the thoughts/feelings/physical/behaviour cycle and how you can change the whole process just by thinking differently and in my case positively.
I have got to write down a bout 5 specific therapy goals for next session, the main ones are getting in touch with either old acquaintences or making new friends and just generally being less hung up about my own issues and realising that everybody has their own issues and they won't look at me like I'm a freak or whatever.
CBT is a long term process. It can/should equip you to deal with things long after your sessions finish.
Good luck:)
I was there half an hour longer than I should have been because my therapist could see how much effort I had put into writing my homework and his next client cancelled.
I dicussed a few issues that a while ago I would never have been able to tell anyone because I had buried them so deep down I had subconsciously almost forget them, but now can talk openely about them to try and reach a solution.
I'm on to behavioural activation now, got a check list of things I could do and also a little calendar/diary to record stuff I'm doing to try and get me out of this mindset that I have 'done nothing in my life' & 'wasted all the years since I left school'.
It was a bit spooky because in this sort of journal I have been writing, I recognised that making plans rather than sitting on your butt, then experiencing the feelings when these plans come to fruition - however small they might be - it gives you a boost and in my case stops be from ruminating about negative crap so it's all good at the moment.
Wasnt sure whether to do CBT and whether it would benefit me but its something Ive always found interesting and I have a few books on it. Never have an idea of what to say at these types of meetings!