Quote:
Originally Posted by Aracnae
My psychiatrist recommended this book to me, and my therapist brought it up too. He might be giving me some worksheets, but I may end up buying a copy. Apparently, it's a really good thing to use for working through personal problems, and my psychiatrist says everyone with a mental illness or emotional problem should have one.
I've never even heard of it until last week. Has anyone else used this thing? Has it helped you?
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In my experience I have found CBT to be little more than a scam. I think of it as the AA for mental illnesses. Some of the self-help books that tout CBT go so far as to say that if you buy the book, you won't need therapy.
I spent over a year trying CBT with a therapist. I used a number of workbooks, did my homework and really tried to make it work for me. I just couldn't get it. I went so far as to read Beck's Depression text – the sacred text for treating depression with CBT – but the theories just didn't resonate with me.
CBT was the go-to treatment for decades and it is only within the past five years or so that it has been scrutinized and reevaluated. I think that the core premise is flawed – very, very basically one need only change the way one thinks to change one's feelings or perceptions. If you can buy into that, it may work for you. But it's not the cure all therapy that people thought of it a decade ago. It used to be sold as a therapy that didn't need medication – that's not the case any longer.
To me, CBT is a kind of mental astrology: if you believe in it, it will probably help.
If I were you, I would ask your shrink or therapist to explain what CBT is and if you think that it may work for you ask for a specific workbook to buy.
My opinion, of course.