Quote:
Originally Posted by Claricus
Hi
Last week I went to the doctor about my ongoing depression and she suggested that when I was back at uni it might be worth trying Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of it?
What is it like?
Did it work for you?
Anything would be useful  |
Dear Claricus,
I have been in CBT for about 2 months now. In some areas, it can be difficult to find a therapist who has had actual CBT training or certification. Any therapist can claim they do CBT. In my humble opinion, I think there is a difference in "doing CBT" and actually going through the established coursework and getting certified. Just my personal experience. I am sure there are any number of qualified therapists who are very good at CBT. I just happened to stumble on all the wrong ones.
If you have not already done so, I would look up any of the studies done on CBT and its efficacy. In mild to moderate depression CBT is as good, if not better than anti-depressants. A book that I would recommend to give you a good overview of CBT (not a replacement for a T) is The New Mood Therapy by Dr. Burns.
My therapy is very calming, directed, educational, and is time-limited (somewhere between 12 and 24 sessions if one puts forth true effort). I am working out of several workbooks and I get homework that is mutually agreed upon for the week.
The basis of CBT, as I understand, is that our negative thoughts influence our moods. As Dr. Burns puts it, "identify your negative thoughts, put the "lie" to it, and refute the negative statement by coming up with a believable, positive statement". It is amazing how many "automatic negative thoughts" (ANTS) I have in any given day. Practice and more practice allows me to effectively refute these ANTS that cause so much angst and depression.
CBT is so simple, yet challenging. It takes the willingness to suit up and show up and to do the homework. The more "attached" we are to certain thoughts (our core beliefs which we learned long ago), the more we will try to hang on to them. It only takes a few attempts at refuting the ANTS that we begin to see that in changing our thoughts we can change our mood.
I have tried other forms of therapy and the type of therapy that just does not work for me is what I call "talk therapy" - where I feel like I am just talking and talking. This aimless style makes me feel worse. No, for me, I need to learn, practice, practice some more and then fly. Here is some information on CBT:
http://www.nacbt.org/whatiscbt.htm
Hugs, Laurie