Nervous for therapy.. not sure what to expect..

[A Nervous Nigel]

So about 3-4 weeks I got referred by my GP for therapy (for anxiety)

I got sent a questionnaire in the post to fill out for a telephone appointment which lasts 20 mins.. And today is the day.. I'm feeling rather anxious now, I know that therapy is about changing the way you think and your behaviour.. But other than that I really don't know what to expect..

Has anyone got any experiences they can tell me of?
Or how the first couple of sessions go?
I assume they know most people are nervous and I suppose they try relax you?
Have you had an initial telephone appointment before face to face sessions?

So nervous for the call!!!!

[littlebutterflygb]

A telephone appointment is the normal thing to happen before treatment. Have you been told how long you need to wait? It can be some considerable time between an assessment and seeing someone. I waited 3 months before I saw someone after the initial telephone interview.

Be sure to chase things up if you don't hear back what course of treatment they've decided upon - after the interview, you should have been given a timeframe of when they'd call you back to let you know on what has been decided (therapy etc). In my experience, I was never called back 'in a few days' as promised and ended up ringing them after a week of no contact from them.

So you may have some time to wait before you see anyone at all. They do know you are nervous, and if you think about it, if you were not nervous - why would you be contacting them in the first place?

The first few sessions are really a 'getting to know you' and your problems. You may not do any actual 'work' for a couple of sessions as the person you see will draw up a Treatment Plan with your agreement, based upon your needs and how you are - you will be given a copy of this for your Ref.

Don't feel you are chained by the Plan - you're not and sometimes Plans get altered and amended as needs be; they are flexible and sometimes what may have been the best course of action at the beginning, may change later.

Try not to worry too much and don't be surprised if you feel worn out at first from just the visits. Sometimes that hits you the next day. I also find it hard to 'come down' after a visit and am usually up til the early hours and feel 'over stimulated'. Then I crash the next day!

[MyNameIsTerry]

The best thing to do, is be honest.

They do this all day long, year in, year out so they have know that many of their clients are anxious and may demonstrate this in different ways. It is their role to get beyond this, ensure you feel you are in a safe environment and feel able to tell them what you need to.

When I was referred, it was for the first stage of referral treatment - Level 2 guided self help. This consisted of a face to face meeting followed by 4-5 20 minute telephone sessions. It's CBT based, but it's veyr limited and meant for those who can respond quickly with little involvement from them. They told me at this assessment that this wouldn't be enough but you have to go through it in order to reach Level 3 High Intensity CBT.

I went along with it, and in some ways it helped me. It was better than sitting waiting for months for CBT. One thing I have learnt with anxiety is that it needs attacking quickly and they more you wait, the more engrained it becomes. They gave me some booklets to read, discussed things at a more basic level e.g. what is wrong and can you do this that or the other to improve it.

I then waited a further 3 months for CBT, but I managed to get this quicker because I was messed about, courtesy of my GP's staff not referring me until my third time of being told I was being referred. The CBT people were very good about this and tried to find me a slot to help accomodate my GP's errors.

At the CBT, it was a more detailed discussion and I did some homework to detail my thought patterns, feelings, what bothered me the most, etc. I was asked about all this, how it started, some basic questions about my past, etc.

At each session the therapist asked if I was ok to discuss certain issues, what did I want to discuss and was I happy with her. You can stop if you need to, they know it can be difficult for everyone and especially for those with anxiety disorders that could mean even attending therapy would be a problem.

After a few sessions it became more about setting goals and going from there.

Just be honest. Tell them how you feel. It is beneficial if you write down what your problems are and what you need to get past them. This helps cutdown on some of the admin and gives them a clearer idea of what is needed. You may not not all of this at first, it just helps to avoid you feeling unsure in sessions and will give you more discussion time.

I used to manage a guy that was having therapy and he wasn't very positive about it and asked to change therapist. He had his first breakthrough in years at that first session which was all because he felt the relationship with the therapist was better for him. So, don't feel you can't raise this issue...therapists have to provide for this without emotion so don't feel bad about it if you need this.

Good luck!