High intensity CBT starts tomorrow!!

[debbsi]

Hi
I dont post on here very much, but tend to read everyones wonderful advice which helps to put my mind at rest.

I saw a member of staff from the healthy minds team a couple of months ago. I had 2 sessions with him and he decided to refer me for high intensity CBT. My first appointment is tomorrow.

I have had CBT about 3 years ago, I thought it had worked, but I have ended up back at square one, so I hope this works this time.

I will post tomorrow to update how it went

Deb x

[shoegal]

Good luck xxx

[leeannes]

good luck hope it goes ok xx

[debbsi]

Well it went ok!
Therapist seems really good, will get anywhere between 6-20 sessions on nhs depending on how it all goes. As I have had cbt before I was well aware of the model, but I just need help to put it into practice.

She did say one thing that helped though - she said that anxiety is normal, all people worry from time to time, but in my case my worrying is at the top of the scale and needs turning down! This helped me to put things into perspective, that yes its ok to worry but not the the extreme that I do. So this is what we are going to work on and mainly my health anxiety.

So I see her again in 2 weeks, just hope this works this time - I am so determined, I need to start enjoying life again.

Deb x

[joannap]

i was really interested to read your post because i am currently having cbt and although it has been the hardest thing i have ever done - it has put me on the road to recovery. we anxiety sufferers do indeed start to fall into the trap of thinking we need to banish anxiety but its a normal emotion like happiness etc - its just got out of control. an explanation that helped me was that anxiety is excessive worry - this made me stop viewing it as something "outside" of myself and turned it into something i did not like but using cbt techniques could start to address.

also running through anxiety is a need for certainty. we NEED to know that a physical symptom is not a deadly disease, we NEED to know our anxiety will not get worse, we NEED to know our boyfriend will never leave us but - and this is something i found initially hard to accept - there is NO certainty - certainty is not achievable (especially regarding hypothetical situations) so this is something that needs to be tolerated too. we also need to learn to stop attaching positives to worry - we mistakenly think that if we worry for instance - it will stop something bad from happening/help us to keep on top of it and yet this is not the case.

cbt has definitely been the one thing that has put me on the road to recovery after 14 years of breakdowns and trying different medications - i think everyone should try it!