PDA

View Full Version : Is there a difference between CBT and counselling?



scatty_cat
06-10-06, 12:43
Hi

I've been having weekly sessions with a counsellor - is this the same as CBT. I'm not sure if it is helping or not really. It seems that it is mostly me talking and she asks things like how does that me feel etc. I feel that I could do with more advice and explanations as to why I feel the way I do and how to cope with things.

Thanks

LickeyEndBlues
06-10-06, 14:17
The short answer is no, they are not the same.

In my experience of counselling (twice with two different people) the emphasis is on you talking in response to the questions they are asking....based on what you have said.

CBT, and I have not received any, is about changing, challenging or replacing learnt behaviours that are responsible for the way you feel.

My personal view is that both should ideally happen together.....but I'm sure there will be other views.....it is what I'm hoping for!!

Laisez les bon temp roulez

strawberrie
07-10-06, 09:52
hi scatty

no, they are not the same. i've had counselling before and not found it helpful, however i've just started CBT and am feeling much more positive about it helping me.

I think CBT is a more practical way of dealing with your issues - changing the way you think and behave to help you cope better. I'm posting a bit about my CBT sessions in the health anxiety section, and i know other people have posted a CBT diary - if you have a look at these, it might give you a good idea of whether or not it will be useful to you.

To be honest, i think its a pretty individual thing and different approaches help different people, so its just a case of finding what's right for you.

take care,
mag

axel
01-11-06, 22:44
Very different to me. Both of the previous posts here are full of merit. Scatty here is a link to a thread I started here about my CBT experience
Almost done with my group (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9380)

I still go back and list continuing updates from time to time to let everyone know how I am progressing. Give it a look when you get a chance and give CBT a try!

matt1981
26-11-06, 00:38
I have both, I have counselling from college that usually involves her asking questions usually about the past and why I feel the way I do sometimes. I have CBT from a psychologist which involves him asking me questions and he writes my negative thoughts on the side of a card and writes the realistic thought on the right hand side of it and I have to read them everyday which I do.. well now I do I used to feel ok and not read them (big mistake) should always read them especially when you are feeling less stressed it immunises you.

axel
28-11-06, 22:01
Matt in my experience if you start writing down your thoughts then write down the thinking errors in the thoughts and write down your own counter thoughts yourself it may work even better for you :)
Take care.

matt1981
01-12-06, 15:08
Thanks mate I will try that! Take care yourself :)

999madmax
01-12-06, 17:05
Hi there,
On my personal experience i am not having councelling yet, But iv`e just started to do the CBT and still have regular contact with my OT worker and i believe - If you beleive in yourself you can do it!
Although it is hard to over come stages like this as i wouldn`t come out of my own roon last weekend, and now i feel confident to do other things. I still have difficulty within out and about but i keep on to myself and SLOWLY i will over come this period!
Finally i have been writing a Diary account of feelings and what i am doing and it helps at the time - Same as being on this web site, Really helpful!
Hope this is helpful to you? Not everything will work for everyone but its alway worth a shot if you havn`t done it before?!!


LOL

999Madmax
-*-

bb01234
08-01-07, 00:52
There are distinct differences in these approaches and the outcomes that the practitioners would deem a success.

Counselling will be a talking cure and as such when you've learnt to 'come to terms' with your problem, job done.

CBT will enable you to revise how you think and can generate lasting results; your symptoms dissipate, job done.

Other approaches will enable you to drill down into your unconsious mind to reveal and revise the reasons underpinning the cause of what's happening to you now, rather than work simply on the symptoms. The difference here is that if we treat just a symptom and do not address the cause you can set up a daisy chain effect of one phobia leading to another to another.

Look at it this way, there are thousands of different tripping effects that people call phobias panic attacks causations etc, why? It's just that your u/c mind has artfully used the path of least resistance to do to you what the underlying cause wants - to make you feel as you do.

Sounds unfair I know, but the u/c mind is doing this to you for a reason and once the underlying reason is revealed, worked on and revised the need for the panics etc wil cease.

HTH

Regards

Brian

axel
11-01-07, 23:38
<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">Thanks mate I will try that! Take care yourself :)

<div align="right">Originally posted by matt1981 - 01 December 2006 : 14:08:30</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

You're welcome. How's it going for you Matt?

Richard99
17-01-07, 00:47
<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">There are distinct differences in these approaches and the outcomes that the practitioners would deem a success.

Counselling will be a talking cure and as such when you've learnt to 'come to terms' with your problem, job done.

CBT will enable you to revise how you think and can generate lasting results; your symptoms dissipate, job done.

Other approaches will enable you to drill down into your unconsious mind to reveal and revise the reasons underpinning the cause of what's happening to you now, rather than work simply on the symptoms. The difference here is that if we treat just a symptom and do not address the cause you can set up a daisy chain effect of one phobia leading to another to another.

<div align="right">Originally posted by bb01234 - 07 January 2007 : 23:52:59</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

This makes a lot of sense to me and is exactly the route that I am trying.

I've spent a lot of my working career programming, so I tend to view the whole psychological makeup of a person as almost a self-learning programme.

I know that things in my subconscious have not been 100% for probably most of my life and initially manifested as shyness as a child, migrating to anger, depression, self-doubt, self-fulfilling prophesies and now panic attacks. If you can understand the root causes of the initial problems and other things along the way that have caused the the metamorphoses I think that you stand more chance of being able to rectify the "bad pieces of programming" in the subconscious which will have direct effects on the conscious mind.

Just my thoughts

My first Haiku - "To convey ones mood in seventeen syllables is very diffic"