Posted by mayzee on July 15, 2006, at 13:23:36 [reposted on July 15, 2006, at 13:30:49 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Can't Get Over It, posted by cecilia on July 15, 2006, at 9:36:43
I really empathize with you Cecelia. I too obsess about a pdoc I did therapy with for years, spent tons of money on, and let go on way too long, just getting worse. I usually blame myself for not getting out sooner, but now I'm learning to be angry at him --he shouldn't have let me suffer so long. (hey better angry at him than at myself, right?) Yours sounds so much worse -incompetent & brutal. I'm so sorry.
CBT really appealed to me logically, but it didn't help me. I tried it with various therapists, including a year at the Beck Institute. Tried some of the books... Feel Good, Reinventing Your Life, etc. They didn't turn me off; I just was too depressed to do the exercises. But my main problem with CBT was that my negative thoughts are so deeply engrained that I couldn't even notice them. They just felt to be *me*.
What is helping me is "mindfulness" training. A few years ago I took an 8-week course that taught mindfulness meditation --based on Jon Kabat Zinn's program (see "Full Catastrophe Living" or one of his other books). It is really helping me to learn to pay attention to and be aware of my thoughts, feelings, reactions. It's very gentle; very accepting. It's also got me onto a path of studying tibetan buddhist philosophy/psychology which is very supportive. You can look for mindfulness training in your area by going to http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/mbsr/
I am still in therapy, and it's now becoming much more effective as I get better at being mindful and being present; starting to be able to see reality vs. my own little (ugly) world in my head. I think if I did CBT now it would work better for me.
The glitch in this plan for me is that I'm often too depressed to do the sitting meditation practice on a regular basis. But even without that it's definitely helping.
Anyway, I just wondered if this might be something for you to consider. Mindfulness Meditation. Or one of the therapies that incorporated mindfulness: DBT or ACT. I myself want to look into ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) because it incorporates a focus on values and what's important to *you*. http://www.acceptanceandcommitmenttherapy.com/
I just noticed that there's a thread on the psychology board where people are working through the DBT skills training together. Maybe you could check that out: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060312/msgs/624046.html#followups
Hope I'm not butting in and offering unsolicited advice. Just offering a possibility in case you haven't already looked into it.
Best wishes,
mayzee
poster:mayzee
thread:667290
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060703/msgs/667302.html