[smallwonderer]

I've been slowly warming up from what was a very depressed summer. Now I'm only medium depressed, but any kind of not-that-miserable makes me nervous. Want to be sure not to go hypo or manic. But I get anxious a lot - due to real world stressors - and today I am feeling both anxious and lonely. Just thought I'd say hello.

I was thinking about trying to do CBT. Does anyone have any good online tools for doing CBT self-help? Does anyone like/dislike CBT? I've never tried it, just seems like a good option to manage detrimental thought patterns.

Hi!

I just started CBT and I am very enthusiastically excited for it. I have a great deal of hope invested in it and am ready to get down to work.

As my therapist explained to me during my assessment, one needs to be ready. It takes a great deal of work and one must be prepared to challenge themself emotionally. I've had 2 sessions and I can tell I have really been challenged.

Ex, one of my activities on my homework is to approach a nursing home and volunteer to spend time (play cards maybe) with some seniors.

I am really anxious about this. I do not know if I can do it (I'd rather not) but I have a week to get up the gumption.

[CopperStar]

I think CBT is worth trying. It's sort of like a medication, I guess, in that for some people it works wonders, for some people it helps a little, and for some people it doesn't really do squat. But you don't know until you try.

I'm not really sure how to qualify any resources as good or sucky, but Googling stuff like "CBT exercises online" and so on seems to give a lot of stuff to browse through.

For me CBT turned out to be an inspirational thing. Once I got the gist of what it was trying to do and how, I pretty much abandoned the worksheets and started coming up with my own little exercises and approaches, that were molded more so to myself.

I think one of my biggest ones deals with ignoring what I cannot control. It was too hard to just "not be anxious" about things I could not control, I couldn't just shut my feelings off. But I was able to do an exercise that basically involved

- Is this something that you can control?
- If no, focus on something else.
- (Insert pre-planned things for me to focus on.)

Super simple, no work sheets, not creative or anything. Just tailored to one of my bigger anxiety triggers and straightforward / to the point, with immediate decisive thought-switching. Helps me out quite a bit when I actually remember to do it lol.

[Mrs. Mania]

Originally Posted by CopperStar

I think one of my biggest ones deals with ignoring what I cannot control. It was too hard to just "not be anxious" about things I could not control, I couldn't just shut my feelings off.

Helps me out quite a bit when I actually remember to do it lol.

I agree about it being successful.......when you remember to use it! I recently found myself eavesdropping on coworkers to see if they were complaining about me. Then I remembered- what other people think of you is none of your business! Instead of spending the night paranoid, I went about my work and had a decent night. + from the little I could make out, everyone was getting a spin on their gossip wheel!

[smallwonderer]

Originally Posted by CopperStar

I think one of my biggest ones deals with ignoring what I cannot control. It was too hard to just "not be anxious" about things I could not control, I couldn't just shut my feelings off. But I was able to do an exercise that basically involved

- Is this something that you can control?
- If no, focus on something else.
- (Insert pre-planned things for me to focus on.)

This sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. Still I'm wondering if I should at least give it a go with a therapist? Did your therapist just do CBT exercises with you? I only have a p-dr and he and I talk for 30 minutes a month but I don't think he does CBT...

[CopperStar]

Originally Posted by smallwonderer

This sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. Still I'm wondering if I should at least give it a go with a therapist? Did your therapist just do CBT exercises with you? I only have a p-dr and he and I talk for 30 minutes a month but I don't think he does CBT...

I have never done CBT or DBT with a therapist. My therapists so far have kind of sucked, and I'm currently not in therapy at all. I discovered DBT while researching BPD, and then also discovered CBT. I was interested, so I started looking for self-help online materials that I could do on my own. Did a lot of reading and found a lot of worksheets / PDF downloads and so on. I am actually glad I was able to do it privately and on my own terms, although I understand that some people need the push and encouragement that therapy provides.

[Unrigged64072835]

I've done both CBT and DBT in a group setting. It actually works well for me because I can hear what others are going through and how they apply the homework to their situations. Plus it keeps me accountable, which I usually need.

You can basically get the same benefit from a CBT self help book if that helps. My therapist actually gave me a copy of "The Feeling Good Handbook" by Dr. David Burns. He pretty much invented CBT. The therapist will basically just do the same worksheets that are in the book.
I did it when I started having panic attacks as a teenager. It's a lot of work and takes commitment, but it worked wonders for me. I think I will actually pick up that book again now that I'm thinking of it.

Cbt is fantastic. I am glad i am not the only one using it. Try moodgym for an online course

[RisuNeko]

I've been not depressed but super anxious and lonely for months now. I'm living with my parents for the first time in 7 years, and my grad school is online, and I work alone, so I have no social contact other than online. And anxiety is my default. It's been that way for as long as I can remember (like since I was a very small child). I'm kind of used to the anxiety except when it's coming from real life stressors, which is a fair amount of the time these days. I've been coping by drawing for like 10 hours a day to distract myself. Probably not the most healthy coping strategy, but it's not the worst either.

My experience with CBT has been pretty bad. It may have just been that my old therapists who used it were really bad, or maybe it just doesn't work for me. I'm much more responsive to DBT. One of the core teachings of DBT is distress tolerance. Which is great for anxiety. I've gotten to the point where I'm okay with being anxious, maybe because it's just become a part of who I am, or maybe because of the DBT, or some combination of the two, but anyway. Check out DBT too if you have a chance. There are some great workbooks out there for it. Even ones specific to bipolar disorder. There's a misconception sometimes that it's only for borderline personality disorder, but it's really great for bipolar and anxiety and other things too.

Cbt was tons better for me than Dbt. If you use the cbt skills correcty it is unlikely you will find much benefit from dbt

[smallwonderer]

Hi guys - just an update, I went to my psychiatrist/therapist (he does both) and he really didn't like CBT when I asked him about it. But I started reading a book that made it sound pretty good so I am going to look into either doing it online or finding a different therapist who will do it.

I have never had it, and I don't know anything about it. Is it common?