Does CBT work???
Posted , 4 users are following.
i have just started my second course of CBT. I am seeing a therapist due to depression whcih started in 2008 and last year was the first time I went for cbt or any therapy.
it is with a different therapist because the one I saw first was unavalible.
first course lasted 17 sessions and I did learn things but at the start probably until around week12ish I was not improving and I was getting annoyed with myself as I got in a mindset that if I fail it will affect the therpist as she was still training. I did speak about this and the following weeks got better.
It ended and I was like "oh snow what?" But I kept going and kept doing some of the work we did together and was good and would say they were the best 8 weeks of last year to do with my mental state. Then out of no where I felt down all of sudden just from making a cup of tea. I tried to do the work but I could not cope and I did not know what to do and went to see my gp and tried to contact the therapist again and was told to sign back up. 4months later I am back doing CBT.
THIS time it is with a different therapist but I prefer my other one ( I can not see her atm) it is also focusing on a certain point. which may help but I feel like it wont help and I feel that there is more "baggage" that this therapist is just ignoring.
I know she has looked over my notes from before but how does she know what the problem is, without talking to me?
I am trying to be open minded with the work and i am doing the homework but I just feel this lot of cbt will not be useful.
What other options are availble on the nhs in the UK?
0 likes, 7 replies
sam18386 Guest
Posted
Hmm, what a cool name is the Wolverine, by the way. J must be honest with you i definitely didn't like cbt at all, i had z background of assault and my daft doctor sent me for cbt? Just don't ask, i was exceptionally cross with my doctor and felt the cbt therapist found this a joke. It was so tough, they need to get to the bottom of your stress, maybe a form of different counselling maybe easier for you? I'd char to your doctor. If you feel this is not right it probably isn't.
omni Guest
Posted
Hi Wolverine,
Sorry you're having to go through yet another block of CBT. It has to be soul destroying not getting the help you need.
In my opinion, I think this is where the CBT may have to cease and a more solidified person centred therapy takes its place.
I tend to promote Schema therapy which goes from past to present, it can be quite intense and goes further with past issues through chair work (which is powerful), mindfulness techniques, talk therapy and some homework. CBT as you know focuses on the present behavioural cycle and tries to change these. If there is past pain it doesn't delve into these areas fully. I call it surface therapy which tends to work short term.
You're in a good place in that you are already seeing a therapist - talk to them, be clear with them that you would prefer another type of therapy. They should already have an awareness that you're not getting the help you need from this.
They will have Schema therapists who can help. The waiting times are lengthy, anywhere from 4- 12mths waiting, however, as you're seeing a therapist already. it may be a transitional process. If not, keep at them about different therapy. Look up Jeffery Young the founder of Schema, it will give you an overview of what's involved.
If you have continuous ruminating thoughts which are taking over, try a mindfulness technique called 'leaves in the stream' it calms the mind, another is Eckhart Tolle who is a guru for keeping thoughts in the present - all on you tube.
Take care
loxie Guest
Posted
I too didnt get on with CBT - I felt that I was being continually told not to bring up any past issues which may cause negative thoughts and told to concentrate on amending future behaviour. All well and good and I knew I needed to stop doing and thinking the way I was in order to move forward but I also felt that just ignoring the things in my past which had caused me to arrive where I was wasnt healthy and felt like I was being told to bottle them up. A different form of counselling is perhaps better for you. CBT is supposed to help us stop destructive behaviour but for me personally just pretending the past hadnt happened wasnt at all helpful and made me very very frustrated.
Guest loxie
Posted
Did you have any other type of therapy?
loxie Guest
Posted
I paid privately for a couple of counseling sessions which started to help but I couldnt afford to pay for any more at the time and my GP wouldnt refer me through the NHS so I didnt have any more help at the time. I did then join a meditation group and I found that really helpful in getting my brain to stop overworking everything. Had some other ill health so again I had to stop those but hope to start again when I'm well enough physically.
Guest loxie
Posted
thank you for your reply
I am going to talk to my therapist next time I see her as I do feel that things in my past are affecting me
Guest loxie
Posted
i had my third session of cbt yesterday.
i went in more engaging and feeling a little more positive to tell her how I had been and what i had been doing that improved my mood.
sort of feel like that was just dismissed, I went to london that was out of my comfort zone and I got an understanding of the more I do out of my comfort zone the easier things will get to do but hardly talked about it.
I feel like I have been pressured/bullied into doing this job course.
I would like to do it, but not at the moment as I am going away towards the end of the month, then again in mid MAY and again in early JUNE. ALL for a week and I feel that they would not appreciate doing a week missing a week doing 2 weeks missing a week etc.
I feel because of this it has made me depressed again as well as anxious.
I KNOW SHE WANTS ME TO FEEL ANXIOUS AND DO THINGS OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE TO FIND A REASON BEHIND SOME OF IT. BUT most of the time it is just a feeling in my stomach.
I probably am anxious about this course because after I left school I went to college then did another 2 terms somewhere else. But quit, due to the course changing. I struggled to find work over the years, I got a few zero hour contracts but was never used or trained. Did some volunteer work last year. The other thing was that I had been unwell as well.-2013 ish I had a constant headache for like 6 months, some days I could not get out of bed because it was that bad. saw the gp but could not find anything. 2017-2018 I had something wrong with my stomach that affected me for around 6-8months. I could not bend without being in pain, somedays I could not eat without vomiting . Plus throughout that depression and anxiety. I KNOW WHEN I HAD MY FIRST ANXIETY ATTACK IT TOOK ME over a year to get back to some normality.
I did make my own business on ebay selling anything, but mainly toys. WHICH I AM STILL DOING, recently I have just completed a cleaning course in which I got a distinction in.