My Support Forums - View Single Post - CBT ?'s and new therapist shopping update

imapatient · May 16, 2010, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deliquesce

how did it go, impy?

Hi everyone. Thanks for the replies. Apologies for being late to return here. Special thanks to Deli of whom I requested a command performance of that indelibly deliberative deli-insight and brain power by commenting for me.

As if terminating from two T’s at the same time and trying to find a new one wasn’t stressful enough, I’ve been sick for 2+ weeks from side-effects of Buspar and withdrawing from it. I had a nightmare last weekend that began with an Urgent Care appt that went way, way bad. Been on my mind all week, so less mental energy spent on other issues. See an upcoming post about this horror story soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torn Mind

Impatient got to ask a question here - why do you say you have distorted thinking? Is that something you yourself have come to realize, or is it something your Ts have told you?

I think it (or is it feel it?

). T’s agree when it comes to stress, I get much more frazzled than is called for—very often—and don’t think as clearly then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torn Mind

I personally am really antipathetic towards CBT - I don’t believe you can separate thought and emotion - one doesn’t ipso facto precede the other and the kind of experiences that create distorted thinking generally have their origins in emotional rather than rational understanding anyway (unless it’s an issue of mental illness of some sort). Torn Mind

I actually have been the same way re: CBT and my main T for 1.5 years now is not a fan of it. I’ve been told by multiple T’s and pdocs over the past year that it might be good for me to try it. Too much “analysis” by/of me in the and not enough attention paid to addressing the behavioral side, about how to make changes in how I think and live. After 20+ years of therapy, I agree with the concept that different avenues might be worth trying. And I agree that CBT sounds like it might help me deal with stress better. That’s the key issues. My T’s in the past year (I have 2 individual right now: one local, one via phone and a group therapist) have changed my diagnosis, seeing that my big issue is anxiety and not depression. I see what they mean about how I get just paralyzed by anxiety, or worse, my thinking gets distorted, and it takes up all my time. Time better spent otherwise. Sunrise, to your comment; yes, you got it right about why I need it, and hopefully about it working to help with that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunrise

So the behavior guy didn't do cognitive work as well? It seems not so many Ts are only behaviorist these days. (I find a behaviorist approach quite useful on myself. I have used it for years as "self-help", a long time before I went to see a therapist.)

Sunrise, no, I didn’t mean that. I used behavior in an overall sense. Sorry for the confusion. I didn’t think of that T as being CBT, but somewhere on the behavior side is where that T thinks I need help most. Done psychodynamic forever. [And that “he” is a she and she said Take a walk on the CBT side, doot)

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunrise

I am extremely analytic and what some people consider an overly rational thinker. I have found the approach in my therapy (largely humanistic) to be really good for someone like me, who needed to learn to detect that I was feeling something, to identify what I was feeling (am I angry at someone? am I sad right now? am I disappointed? am I hurt? ) , to get in touch with my true self, to find "my voice,"--all the cliches. I am not sure if CBT could have helped me with those problems.

This is exactly me, to the nth degree. If I had a dime for every time I’ve been told I overanalyze, over-intellectual, think too much, etc. I’m pretty good at expressing my feelings if I recognize them, but the problems for me is like with you: I don’t know what I’m feeling. That’s something coming out of therapy this past, year, too, the understanding that I don’t do well with “feeling” my feelings. Identifying them. Major problems for me.

So, I went in with some issues written down, having researched criticism of CBT and went over them with the T. Generally, I feel better about it. He sees 1.5 to 2 years of work—so far—needed. I thought the time-frames were much shorter. It was a highly intellectual discussion that covered a lot of the ground. I’m more comfortable going forward. I guess I look at it as an opportunity to try something different—very different. Skill-building in learning how to better handle stress and think more clearly. If I could save time and anguish from when I’d nowadays get so stressed out (over little things even), I’d function much better. To help with that, is a big plus. Like Torn Mind, I’m skeptical and on the same issue of thoughts and feelings.

A question I asked was, “What empirical evidence supports the idea that thoughts about events cause feelings?”— that being where CBT differs and is new-ish; another way I put it: “what demonstration of the causal direction between emotions and thoughts has been made to show that CBT is right in the model it uses?” He said there is none. No one knows how it really works, or why it works. Just like there are unanswered questions about any therapy or meds (my comment: or about anything, getting very epistemological about it). I said, “so there is a black-box involved always, and CBT has just changed the traditional wisdom for trying to guess how it really works inside.” He said, “yes.” But it really doesn’t matter how it works he said, because the process has been shown to be effective, as have other things. If it works, that’s what matters. I can’t do justice to the conversation and perhaps the soundness of his reasoning, but intellectually I’m not satisfied by far. And I have pretty rigorous stands when it comes to philosophy of science, and maybe as a T he doesn’t want to get very deep into that with a patient. Or can’t, yikes! Who asks a question like that? I don’t begrudge him for a limited response, and he gets points for not trying to give me double-talk about the matter. I’m satisfied enough.

Anyway, I’ll keep seeing him for a few more sessions and then see how it goes. I like him pretty well so far.