Posted by KrissyP on March 4, 2003, at 0:50:49
In reply to Re: cognitive therapy » KrissyP, posted by mattdds on March 3, 2003, at 23:59:43
Your very welcome Matt. David Burns is awesome-I learned a lot from his writings. Isn't the goal of therapy to learn so you no longer need one?
:-)I'm glad that you can use CBT on your own now.
I think the therapist/patient relationship is a TEAM. What good is it going to do us if we don't do the "homework" etc. that we are paying the therapist to help us? Yes I am interested in your Beck and Excel graph-that is wonderful.
CBT IS work and anything worth getting is work-It's taking me a while to learn this. Better late than never though:-)Yes, I am familar with cognitive restructuring and behavioral exercises, I kept a journal for 2 years and noted everything, and I learned to see things differently-it helped a lot. Deep breathing certainly can be used as an adjunct to CBT-It really is helpful. The efforts one puts into CBT is well worth it! I'm glad that it has helped you and I am happy to hear you know a lot about it.
Keep in touch, By the way what do you mean by YMMV?
Please share.
Keep posting
All the best:-)
Kristen
-------------------------------------------------Hi Kristen,
Thanks so much for your comments! It is great to hear others benefitting from CBT as well.
In my opinion, once you learn the techniques that help you, you really don't need a therapist.
Also, I don't think most people that try CBT give it a fair trial. I mean, this stuff is work! Most people go to a CBT therapist for a few sessions, don't do any homework, and don't really do much outside the 1-hour weekly sessions. I think of CBT as reprogramming your brain, which takes a lot more work than 1-hour weekly sessions.
When I was in my worst period, I would spend hours on the exercises, and kept the "mood log" journal of cognitive distortions nightly. I also tracked my progress using the Beck anxiety and depression tests. This way, I could objectively measure my success. I really got into it, and watched my anxiety and depression scores plummet on an Excel graph! I'd be happy to detail all of this to you if you are interested.
So my point is, the CBT therapy sessions (like formal therapy) do very little other than teach you CBT, if that makes sense. If all you do is get once a week counseling, there is very little chance CBT will help, in my opinion. It is the *homework* that will really get you better. Another option is intensive therapy on an inpatient basis, as they do at Stanford University. You have to really get the attitude of kicking anxiety's (or depression's or OCD's) ass, and be diligent. I cannot stress the importance of the homework enough! This is, in my view, the ONLY way that CBT works, with tons of individual effort. It is incredibly hard work to rewire your thinking from the ground up, but it really pays off. For the first time, I feel like I have "fixed" the bulk of my anxiety disorder, though many here will doubt that.
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> Best wishes Kristen,
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> Matt
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poster:KrissyP
thread:205352
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030301/msgs/205734.html