first cbt session tomorrow...

[Haybee]

i have my first cbt session tomorrow. this is the first of any kind of treatment i have had for my anxiety, not on any meds or anything either. never done any counselling or anything like this before and the thought of talking about myself to someone makes me cringe a bit. embarassingly, when i've had to talk to a doc about it (just to get referred) i found myself getting tearful even though i dont think i was that upset at the time.

i'm feeling a bit of a fraud about the whole thing now, when i was first getting referred i'd had a couple of panic attacks and it really felt like my anx was escalating very quickly. but i've been ok for a couple of weeks. i know some people on here are suffering pretty much constantly with their anx and i kind of feel like i'm wasting the docs time when there are people suffering like this. but then, the past couple of nights i have experienced physical symptoms i'm assuming are from anx (shooting pains all over), and didnt get to sleep til 5am, so it is obviously still a problem for me. i'm worried the cbt doc is going to ask me when my anx happens and i wont know what to say- i honestly have no idea what triggers it, or why these physical symptoms happen out of nowhere. even when i had my panic attacks i thought i had felt fine beforehand. ah i'm just rambling now lol.

so does anyone know what kind of thing i can expect in a first appointment..? i'm not absolutely dreading it, but quite nervous about it now.

[Recsense]

Hi Haybee,

It has been over a year since my first appointment and I am sure all therapists wrk differently, but its important to realise that your first visit is going to be about fact finding from the therapist, he will want to know all about your anxiety's and how that manifest, he will ask the triggers where you have them and stuff like that. I had to fill out a questionnaire on my first session, it was all good though. I was helped to some degree from my CBT as I am no longer Agraphobic, mine came to an end before it should have done or I am sure I would have been helped more. The important thing is to listen to the CBT therapist, he will push you to do things you will hate, for me he made me do my supermarket shopping every day and get in the longest check out, he also took away my crutch (a bottle of diet coke) but I have that back again now as have slightly relapsed.

Therapy iss a great journey and can help a lot of people, I know people who swear by it, CBT is all about the thought process and managing it.

Stick with it and give it a chance, you might find it changes your life.

Wishing you all the luck in the world Haybee