View Full Version : The CBT Thread
CBT is expensive and the waiting list can be huge. I didn't need it to overcome my own health anxiety, but this was partly due to me avoiding it - I was too embarrassed to sit in a group and talk about stuff like this, and I was reluctant to admit that I had a mental health issue at the time (I was 100% convinced my problems were physical).
But I notice many of you have had CBT, so for the benefit of this forum please use this thread to tell people about your experience with it and what they taught you - so that people can learn some CBT techniques without having to sign up for sessions they might be reluctant to do right now.
Just an idea, but a good one I think!
I had CBT 10 years ago and it didn't really help me a lot at that time. A couple of years ago I discovered CBT4panic http://ct-online-info.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=http%3A%2F%2Fct-online-info.com%2F&reauth=1
This was a GREAT help to me and got me out and about again. I also had Intense Psychotherapy which enabled me to deal with traumatic events from my past.
Hi, I have been doing CBT for a few months now and I think it has been a great help. Here in the US you just find a therapist and most CBT therapists don't take insurance, so yes, it is $200 a week but worth every penny. At the time I started going, I could barely leave the house with some one let alone ride in the car for 45 minutes to get there.
In the beginning we worked on desentizing my anxiety symptoms. We did this by doing interoceptives- such as having me breath through a tiny little straw for a minute, making myself hyperventilate (I hated that!), doing jumping jacks, spinning in a chair, holding my breath..etc. I still practice these at home.
Then we moved on to driving, at first my therapist would sit in my car with me and we would drive around the parking lot, then moved on to him sitting in my backseat and having me drive to places that I really didn't know how to get to. After weeks of that, we graduated to him following me in his own car. Now I can drive to my 45 minute away appointment myself. (although I still have a hard time with it)
We have done other things, such as going to the shopping mall and eating at the food court (terrible fear of choking). We went jogging one night to expose my body o being out of breath and sore.
We also have me writing out stories of how I imagine I am going to die. Its the hardest thing to do. I wrote one recently about how I felt like I couldn't breathe and everyone kept telling me it was anxiety until ultimately I really couldn't breathe and felt myself fading away and could only hear sirens and see the dim flashing lights of the ambulance. I have to read this story a lot. The point is, to realize its a story. I have to read to other people, I have to read it out loud alone. I cry every time I read it but its getting easier.
We do also work on changing my thought process from "fortune telling, mindreading, catastrophizing..etc" I have to write out my thought, the evidence, and the alternate realistic explanation.
I am held accountable as I do email nightly how many sets of interoceptives I did, how far did I jog, how far did I drive, how did I socialize, and so on.
So, basically its pretty intense and I spend a lot of my day working on my new skills. I am not 100% there yet but have come a long way. I hope this makes sense, I kind of rambled there I see :)
I'm not sure if different therapists work differently in other countries or states. But, I have found my progress really shows when I put in the work and practice on my own.
I hope this helps some one and maybe gives some ideas on things to try yourself!
Amanda
Good thread Skippy so bumping it up:)
I'm determined not to take any anti anxiety/depression meds and I'm on a waiting list for CBT which is 4 months long. I can't wait.
Amandala that's amazing work! In awe of the effort you are managing to put in. Very interesting. Also interested in this 'fortune telling' 'catastrohpizing' ... How do you overcome this? I believe that is a largely what I do.. How do you stop yourself?
Hi trueman, and thank you! :blush:
The fortune telling and catastrophic thinking are the hardest for me too. Struggling at the moment over waiting for blood test results...
But- the way to practice is to write down the thought, write all the evidence against the thought and then write a more realistic thought. It's best to write it out a lot until you are able to do it in your own mind. (I still have to write!)
Thanks Amandala. I will try that. I think those kind of catastrophe thoughts happen to me 10, 20 times a day! Even now having heart twinges typing and immediately think heart attack heart attack!! I will try writing them down. Guess you have to be quite determined to do that especially if constant all day.. Not easy. Thanks though!
Haha! I can't write down everything either! There are too many thoughts up there, do I do try to do it in my head...most of the time :winks:
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