just started cbt

[jayye]

Ive seen someone for cbt for the 1st time today. She asked questions & I told her about my anxiety, panic attacks, night terrors ( every night for the past 4-5 months I wake up in fear), and claustrophobia, my fears of aeroplanes, trains, lifts, buses, anything that means I cant escape in an instant, electric doors etc.

She seemed to understand what I was saying, and drew up the cycle of fear thing. She said we need to break the cycle and I need to stop my safety thoughts eg I can go to the theatre if my seat is at the back and at the end by the door, I can go into a room if the window is open & large enough for me to get through if necessary. I wasnt expecting this drop the safety thing, but maybe she has a point in me stopping the thoughts altogether.

Then we did the list of frightening things in order,& I have to try & desensitise myself to the things at the bottom of the list first ie shops with electric doors. She said in the 2 weeks before I see her next I need to go into a shop with electric doors and stay in there for 1.5 hours at a time as often as possible in the 2 weeks. I need to stay there so the panic will rise then fall and each time it rises it will be less until soon the panic will not come at all.

Wow how simple it sounds I mean I could have told anyone that, I think we all know how it works in theory. But come on! I have not been given any coping techniques ie breathing, distraction. Just basically go & face your fears until the fear goes away. If it were that simple these forums wouldnt exist would they. And lets face it I am going to get thrown out of the shop for loitering, its just not practically possible. Is this really how it works, I mean the next stage for me would be buses, then trains & lifts and there is just no way I will get in those.

I feel like - I have a problem I am terrified of going on a train, I have had this for 8 years. Ok just go on one lots of times and stay on one for 1.5 hours and you will be free from claustrophobia.

[JaneC]

Hi jayye. I certainly think your therapist is asking a bit much of you. I thought the whole point was getting support while while you face your fears, not just be sent out there to get on with it. As for repeatedly hanging about shops for about and hour and a half at a time? I think that's nuts. Is there anyway you could see someone different? It's a real shame because CBT can be really helpful x

[jayye]

Thanks for your reply. Im not sure about seeing someone else. I went to see a gp earlier this year and I got a letter saying come for an assessment. Well that was the other day when I got told all this so I assume this is my treatment. I guess Id have to ask a gp what to do about changing. The gp I saw before was a stand-in and is not at the surgery now.
The lady told me I would have 6 appointments but if I felt better after 2 I could cancel the rest. Haha as if! 8+ years of fear and avoidance all cured in 2 hours.
But still, I have to go back as I dont know of any alternative, and mine & my families lives have suffered enough. I now avoid planes, trains, taxis, buses, lifts, hospitals (lifts & x-ray rooms have locked doors) anywhere with locked doors, locked windows, any situation where I cannot escape immediately & unnoticed, fairground rides where I cannot get out of the seat (this limits my kids Im not bothered about missing out for myself), hotels where I cannot escape through the window, anyones car where I cannot open the window or door immediately, shops with closed electric doors, banks with closing doors, & so many more places as its too hard work to keep checking the exits. This is slowly turning me into a recluse. I could probable handle this but its the lives of my children that Im concerned about and how much they will miss out on.

I dont hold out much hope though about this treatment so far.

[Genie]

I have just started CBT for pregnancy related health anxiety. I have had 2 sessions, and the therapist hasn't done anymore than ask me to think about some issues/do some breathing exercises. She says we are still building a picture of my anxiety.

I know it is difficult to see someone else, but you can ask them to slow things down. Go for your next appointment and be really honest about how you are feeling. They should work at a pace which is right for you. If you are feeling pressured, your anxiety is just going to get worse.

Genie

[Anna C]

Hi Jayye,

I'm sorry you are having a bad experience of cbt.

When I was doing it my therapist told me to break it down into small managable steps. If you are scared to go on trains could you go to a train station and just be around trains for a while. Then the next day go on a train for one stop, then the next time two stops and so on.
Make it as easy as you can for yourself at first.

In cbt they do like you to stay in the feared situation for a long time but you can build up to it in gradual steps, so by the time you stay on a train for over an hour it won't feel too scary or overwhelming.

Anna

[cece]

CBT is simple in concept but much harder to practice. The good news is if you dedicate yourself to doing the exercises like the TEA forms it does work wonders. I am living roof and sing its praises now. The bottom line is you get out of CBT what you put into it. You learn to rely on yourself instead of your therapist and that is very empowering. You may want to read the CBT book "Been there, Done that? DO THIS!" www.tao3.com by Sam Obitz. It was written by a man who fought with his anxiety for and got better using CBT. It's a great simple book. Good luck and CBT works if you work it

[Dizz]

Hi I just rang my local mental health authority after receiving their letter re my GP referal letter. They said I am a level 2 referal ? and am down for CBT.

However there is a 6 week waiting list but said I could be referred to the AXA-ICAS programme if I preferred as that was government funded and would be quicker.

I asked what the difference was and he couldn't tell me... I asked if the programme was as good and the same... he didn't know. Infact he said they really didn't know a lot about it but THEY HAD TO OFFER it to patients anyway as it was the rule. I got the impression he was trying to sway me away from it.

So I agreed to stay on their waiting list but now I'm wondering if I should have just gone for the AXA-ICAS one instead as I'd be seen quicker.

Has anyone been on the AXA one and what's it like ?

[june]

Wow how simple it sounds I mean I could have told anyone that, I think we all know how it works in theory. But come on! I have not been given any coping techniques ie breathing, distraction. Just basically go & face your fears until the fear goes away. If it were that simple these forums wouldnt exist would they. And lets face it I am going to get thrown out of the shop for loitering, its just not practically possible. Is this really how it works, I mean the next stage for me would be buses, then trains & lifts and there is just no way I will get in those.
Just those two phrases tell the therapist that YOU do know how to cope with your fears.
I have seen psychiatriststs , therapist etc and they all tell me the same "" you know the coping strategies, What do you expect me to do??""
I told them alll I expect them to help me thro my fears not add to them.
CBT is a bit like physio you do the work
BUT i argue you have to be shown HOW!!!!!
GO into the shop and then write down how you felt and show that to yoru therapist - stick with it for a bit it might get better
Best wishes
June

[thetube82]

the only reason people use 'coping techniques' is because they still fear something.

So i would suggest you look and learn more about what you are fearing, if after reading and learning about your fear you find that it cant harm you, then drop all the distraction/coping/breathing stuff, cos then they would serve no purpose.

thetube82

[ladybird64]

Show me one person who has overcome and stayed in total dismissal of whatever they feared previously within the space of a few weeks worth of sessions and I'll eat my hat.

If I had one.

It isn;t that simple and it doesn't happen that quickly. We all have our own processes to go through until we can start to deal with the fear, there is so much pressure on people to "do this, do that" and if you do it you won't look back.

Considering the number of CBT sessions people get on the NHS it doesn't give much time to get to grips with things!

Distraction, coping and breathing DO serve a purpose..if they help a person to come to terms with and then gradually eliminate their fears then that is surely not a problem.

There should be no time limit on getting better and gaining confidence enough to start to ignore anxiety and panic.

If a person feels better with a bottle of water in their hand then so be it.

Breathing correctly is widely used to deal with many problems including anxiety..it is a basic function that we forget how to use properly when we panic.

It's absolutely essential that we breathe properly..it's not a distraction at all! Really can't understand why you have included that