The War Chest

I thought maybe we could share here examples of positive and effective tools our therapists have armed us with which we are finding useful.

For example, I have regular homework from my therapist including:

She has asked me to make a 'hope bag" containing items that evoke all 5 senses as soothing mechanisms.

I complete an Activity Pleasure Prediction Worksheet
a Behavioral Chain Analysis
a Catstrophic Thinking Worksheet

These are all on the internet or PM me

I'd be interested to know what sorts of tools the rest of you use to cope with anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts

I use meditation, qi gong breathing, and walking - but they did not come from the therapist and I would not use therapy for that sort of thing and would quit seeing any therapist who tried - it would not be useful for me. If it is for others - then good. The therapist does not arm me with anything. I have been doing those on my own for years. I find them useful.

I don't like or use tools like this. I use my therapy to talk and work through current day issues, especially where they're linked to the past. Recognizing and pulling those two timeframes apart is, for me, the most helpful, especially when having flashbacks. Also, being able to voice things I haven't talked to anyone about has given me tremendous relief and eased a lot of stress.

My therapist worked with me on acquiring skills and using them regularly, but he was never one to give me worksheets, etc. It was more a matter of practice, practice, practice in every aspect of my life until it became internalized.

Yeah, I haven't got any explicit tools either. I got worksheets etc when I had CBT a few years ago, but in therapy it is more implicit...I am not sure I could actually say exactly what has made a difference, how, or even what has changed...but change is happening

My T has never given me homework or worksheets, we just work on ways to cope during certain circumstances/situations.

My T has never given me homework or worksheets, either. Basically we talk, talk, talk and then talk a little more. He doesn't suggest ways to cope or fix things. We talk until I figure out how to cope and deal with things in my own way.

My t has never given homework or tools. Over the years she has helped learn how to "sit with" intense emotions and how to observe patterns within myself. She has helped me learn how to understand and anticipate ways I may react to things. Through this and other things I think she's helped me feel in control in healthier ways than I was using before we started working together.

My T doesn't really give homework, though she's given me a few tools to deal with anxiety/panic attacks. One is about stopping and thinking when I'm starting to freak out. Like catching myself before my thoughts spiral out of control. (I feel like there's another step in there that I'm forgetting...) Can't say that generally works very well for me though...

The other, with panic attacks, is to ride the wave of the panic rather than trying to fight it. That can be fairly helpful to me.

Our marriage counselor has given us homework a few times--like a couple times he's told us to have a fight about something. The idea was to show we could have a fight and still be safe and secure in the relationship. (We're both rather conflict-averse, particularly me.)

Most recently, I was talking about my difficulties with the emotion of anger--both having people angry at me and feeling and expressing anger at others (I tend to turn my anger inward). So a couple weeks ago, MC told me my homework was to get angry at H and express that anger. It took a couple weeks, but I achieved that over the weekend. It wasn't like I went into it thinking, "OK, homework time!"--it came about naturally. But I definitely managed to express the anger (may have told him to go F himself at one point...). And after we told MC about it, he emphasized the fact that we survived it and were both sitting there, like H didn't leave me or anything. He acknowledged that it probably wasn't fun or pleasant, but that we got through it.

No homework or assignments. My T doesn't even set any goals with me. Sometimes I get small suggestions though.

We have explored many different distraction techniques. When I get negative thought I tend to ruminate. So we have worked on distractions. Also right now we are working on ptsd triggers. I requested material to help me recognize when I am being triggered so I can better cope and avoid the downside in my mood after the trigger.

My therapist is a relational psychoanalyst so she doesn't do worksheets or assign homework. We do a lot of talking and talking and then more talking. But I've used Behavioral Chain Analyst myself to work on eating issues. I've found them very helpful. When I was working with teens, I taught them how to do them and during group, they loved picking a particular behavior one of them was struggling with and they'd go to town breaking things down.

For myself, over the years, on my own, I've learned that the following things were helpful in keeping my mental health in a good place: power walking daily (4 to 5 miles a day with my trusty dog), swimming in the warmer months, volunteering at a local referral agency, calling a steady friend to talk or make plans to get out of my own way, practicing mindful tasking, gardening and watching a favorite funny movie or in some cases, watching a favorite sad film that allows me to get teary eyed and emotional.

My "homework" from last week, my first visit, was to make a list of things that were most bothersome that I wanted to work on. I made a big list. But I don't know if I am going to want homework each week, but he did say he gives homework frequently, so we will see.

my T encourages me to write to him outside of sessions sometimes about things we discuss. writing has always been easier for me and its a way for me to process things

he also wrote me a letter to read when i am feeling paranoid

and he lets me borrow books that relate to my mental illness

My T gives me suggestions and better ways to cope with things. I kinda consider it homework.

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No homework. I wouldn't see t who would assign homework. It would annoy me. I work so much that no way I would bother with assignments.

She suggested meditation as to help me sleep as I sleep poorly. But I don't like it and don't use it. It was suggested to me before. We laugh about it as I like to do imitations of me meditating ( I am very high strung always on a go type). I just need to work less.

She sometimes makes general comments that don't apply to me such as too much idle time is not good. I agree but I have very little free time as it is.

What helps me to feel healthier is art, I paint, books, working out, healthy eating, social activities. T is very much in support of this but I did all this prior to her

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Mindfulness in all its forms helps me. The most notable tool is to not cling to negative (sui or Sh related).thoughts - to simply notice and acknowledge them and then let them go. It has stopped me running down the rabbit hole many times. I used to cling to them, ruminate on them and find myself so far down the hole I could see the light. It works (much of the time) for me.

I have a long list in the biography section on my profile page so won't list it all here. What I got here at PC that's fantastic is Snap Club from Vital. He writes about it on his profile page, and has links there, I think.

Not what you had in mind, it's something tangible. One of mine suggested aromatherapy for panic. It actually does help - not completely, but enough.

I don't see how it's being unsupportive to ASK someone how they deal with issues if they don't use coping skills.

I didn't realize this was a place where you had to blindly support everyone by being sickeningly sweet all the time and couldn't ask questions. Now I know why I see so much dysfunction on this forum. You're rep remanded and ultimately banned for not being 100% supportive, even if what you say is a QUESTION or making a statement that may go against the posters wants. I liken it to supporting a suicidal person who wants to jump off a bridge by saying "I support your decision to do it because there's nothing but "support" here! I can't tell you not to do it because that would be unsupportive!

End of rant, peace out. I won't be part of a community where I have to support bad behavior and get reprimanded for not asking questions (when I do indeed ask questions).

I have flashbacks and have been told by the second one that she thinks I do have ptsd. And there has been no focus on coping skills - I don't want that sort of therapy. It is fine if other people do, but not everyone wants or needs the same thing even where the labels are the similar.

People do discuss things and have different opinions here. I have not found it to be too sweet (and I am not a sweet person by any stretch of the imagination). I have not found, for me, there to be a problem with respectful questions about differences. I have found difficulty with non-respectful, barely concealed criticism and incredulity.

Whoa, Chipper, might be time to consider going and using some of those great CBT worksheets to help yourself chill a bit. No one is saying that anyone on here has to support "bad behavior". Personally, when I'm not feeling as though I can be supportive or make suggestions that help an individual question or examine their choices, then it's a good time for me to step away from the keyboard and take care of myself.

Everyone's coping skills are in transition and growth. We all come to this forum in different places in the therapy process. Some people were helped by CBT, some have been hurt by it or found it totally ineffective. You mentioned that DBT was very unhelpful to you--guess what? Lots of people on this forum have found it to be life saving. No one approach works for all. And I do know that if I question or diss a person for their approach, I'm bound to hurt them in some way. All people are asking for is a little respect for the differences you'll find on the forum. Suggest coping skills is a good thing/dissing a person's approach, is not so good.

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see ya

This is specifically a support forum. People are supposed to be able to come here for safe support without judgement or being made to feel "bad" for what they do, say, think. That doesn't mean you have to agree with everyone and like everything. You do have to find a way to express your differences with consideration to others. Using compassion and understanding to voice your differences, concerns, or questions is a good way to do that. It's all in the delivery.