Counselling-a must have?

[ladybird64]

Hi all.

I have had a quite a rough day and earlier this evening got a call from a friend that I hadn't spoken to for some time.
She knows that I have agoraphobia and was around when I was going through a bad spell last year. I kind of pulled back from her because she was very good at telling me what I should do to deal with my problems and was good at telling me I was going about things the wrong way.
Anyway..I ended the conversation tonight as she told me in her opinion I was still "in denial" about issues relating to childhood and teenage years (not abuse of any kind) and that there was no way I could ever be fully cured until I go for counselling.
This has rattled me beyond belief. I don't want to go for counselling, for me what's past is past and no amount of talking about it is going to change anything or affect how I deal with things now. I'm not knocking counselling, I know that it has a very important place in helping people but it's not for me.
Am I deluding myself about this? I am relying on NMP, books and downloads to help me move forward and I feel I'm doing ok, is it possible to achieve success without counselling?
Thanks for listening X

[kendo59]

It can be good for some people, be a complete waste of time, or even do more emotional damage for others. A lot depends what sort of counselling, how good the counsellor, and if you think it will help and want it to work.

[Captain America]

i agree with kendo. i started off with a bad counselor. not hurtful, just not helpful. then i found one that worked for me. basically she told me the reason why i am the way i am doesn't matter, that it's all about moving forward.

so even some counselors would agree that dealing with past issues is not always necessary!!

if you're doing well, and feeling better, i say stay the course. if you hit a snag, then maybe consider options.

that's just my opinion though.

[Mikke]

I would guess it depends on your symptoms.
Selfhelp can be ok for people with occasional panic, but if you are suffering on a daily basis you should be aware of the fact that there isn't really a "one size fits all" when it comes to anxiety, and that it might be major issues you need to deal with to get beter.
What helped some author of a book or someone on a blog might not help you, as psycholgical problems leading to panick attacks won't be the same for everyone. The panic is just the symptom, caused by psychological problems.

I might be a bit biased as I'm studying psychology, but there is actually a fact from both american and british research that a therapy called cognitive therapy yields the best results. In my country it is difficult to get this treatment, as few psycholgists and psychiatrists seems interested in it - but from research one can see amazing curing rates among patients that recieves it. Some reports says about 80% of panic sufferers get permanently cured from a combination of cognitive therapy and SSRIs.
I'm not advertising anything, I'm just trying to point out a medical fact, and I think people should know what science says about curing panic disorder. Without proper treatment panic and agoraphobia are cronic diseases, unfortunately.
Self help can be great for comfort, support and so on, but few people are able to treat themselves properly with it, as most self help litterature are based on personal and thus individual experiences.

Did you see that british documentary on televison about phobics with different forms of healthanxiety getting together and trying out strategies to overcome their fear under the guidance of a therapist? One had phobia for cancer, another had phobia for AIDS, and so on. The psychiatrist helping them performed a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapy. Out of the six (I think) participants, only one relapsed during the next months, and these guys where seriously ill to say at least.

As others have pointed out, the form of therapy isn't always the critical thing either, a therapist who are able to reach out to you on a personal level, one you can trust and believe, can be just as important.

[keepemlaughing]

My counselor, psychiatrist, talks little but prescribes a lot. I don't know if it does much good but I feel better knowing I have someone there for emergencies.

[Anxious_gal]

I love my therapist and seeing her is the best thing i have ever did. it really helps my anxiety! but there is some stuff from my childhood i never plan on telling her. i know what happened, i know how it changed me and i accept it. i can move on. i feel like if i went and talked about it, it would just be reopening old wounds. so i do think you know what is best for you x