Do you use the "tools" your therapist gives you?

I've been going through some pretty hard things that have brought super anxiety .. I just am realizing though , I'm doing ALOT better now processing them with the tools my T gave me, to think things through while going through things. Its like I've internalized T's lessons and compassion and can walk through with a greater strength!! Just wondering how much other's are internalizing and things in therapy are working in real life. Now I stop and think "am I emotionally reasoning" "I'm thinking through my rejection filter here, lets not fill in the blanks when i don't know"... oh oh analyisis paralysis.. time to move on in my mind here" I stop from catastrophizing,,, catch myself . etc...

Glad it's working out for you. I always try to use the "tools" my T gives me, no matter how ridiculous they seem, and it usually works out well for me, too.

I do not engage with the therapist in that way. They have never done such a thing.

Yes I have been given some tracking tools which I have found to be very helping in predicting when I might go into a dissociation state

Yeah. Like i got a phone call from relatives last week informing me people were in from far away. Right that minute! Here, say hello! Like a five year old then they were like, did you want to come over? Honestly these people are the master of the non-invitation. THEN it was, "where is your brother? We tried calling, there was no answer. Well he can call us. You tell him."

I was like - i will not let these people upset me. It was 3 pm friday leading up to labor day weekend. Thanks for reminding me how alone and lonely i am. Witches! A nap is a tool, right? i was a little lost (dissociated) all weekend, which i only really recognize when i come out of it, but i didnt go totally nuts. I just put some people on (and off and on and off) ignore!

Eta - the tools being, when i told t about the call, he was like, you dont have to let them dictate your life. And i was like, yeah thats what i said to myself.

I try to remember to use the things we have talked about to help me ground and stay here. I forget them in the place I find myself. After I realize what has happened I do remember and it helps me process it.

Snarkydaddy- I have tried to realize when dissociation is about to happen, but with me it happens so quick that I can't see it coming. I'm not familiar with tracking tools.

I don't think he has given me tools. I am not really sure what we are doing in therapy. I think he is still working on the therapeutic alliance bit, and getting me to trust him. It's been almost a year... I feel so much worse than when I started

I've been using some mindfulness techniques. My Therapist recommended a couple of books that have given me good pointers on that.

As for her own recommendations, or 'tools' directly from her— all I can think of are 'checking in' with my body type stuff but ... nothing really exact.

Absolutely. Those skills are the tools I carried out of the therapy room with me and what I utilize more than anything that I learned from therapy on very much a daily basis. They keep me sane and calm and stable. It was that point at which I realized I really had internalized those skills and didn't need my therapist to walk me through them every time I was upset or anxious or depressed or whatever that I realized I was ready to stop therapy.

My T has tried to teach me CBT techniques along with imagery, reframing thoughts, etc., to help me better deal with anxiety/panic, OCD, and depression. But I'm not really good at using them. Like with panic attacks, she'll say just to ride the wave of them till they're over, which works sometimes if they're not that bad...Or she'll tell me to stop and think if I'm worrying about something, but that doesn't work either. If I'm in the middle of a panic attack, picturing calming imagery just doesn't work. I've read something before about how if people are particularly intellectual/in their heads, then CBT techniques might not work well for them. Like their brain overrides them or something. So I think that might be part of what's going on with me. Or it may be the opposite--that the emotional part of me takes over and overrules my brain's attempts at logic.

I know it frustrates my T, but I don't think she personally has experienced much anxiety, at least more than the usual garden variety that everyone has at times. My marriage counselor, on the other hand, has shared that he's had anxiety issues in the past. He doesn't generally try to suggest any of those techniques to me--I suspect because he realizes they aren't as likely to work for me. He seems more interested in the root cause of the anxiety.

I do better with tools for improving communication, since then I can talk to, say, my H about my anxiety.

My therapist and I wrote a list of activities I can do when I feel depressed.

I don't have the energy to DO any of the things on the list when I'm actually depressed.

This tends to be what happens with other coping mechanisms we've worked on.

Well, I continue to do the CBT worksheets and homework on a regular basis. The tools I have gained really help me when it comes to analyzing situations and emotions I've been through. In addition they are very good for working things out in advance of situations arising (ex. dealing with catastrophic thinking). What the tools haven't been good for is dealing with things as they happen. Last night is just such an example. I had a fear/anxiety response to a PTSD trigger and I just froze unable to do anything.

yes, because she has a lot of good ideas.

I use them, but have a hard time applying them when things are really bad. In some was I don't feel I should feel good.

My T never gave me ANY tools. the only reason I am surviving now is the same reason I have survived every other catastrophe in my life. My T HAS CAUSED ME THE MOST GRIEF AND EMBARRASSMENT I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. I am mortified that he would ruin my life and walk away like he is some genius. He is THE WORST THERAPIST THIS SIDE OF THE U.S.

sometimes

They're are no tools in my Therapy. It is what is, until it's not.

With my new therapist I seem to have so many new tools to use as she is DBT oriented. I use them sometimes and I am trying to use them more.

If I remember to use the skills she's taught me that I do that sometimes I get caught up in my emotions I don't think rationally

I do use these kinds of tools. I didn't learn them from therapists though. (Mostly I got them from reading or experimenting, and one or two are personality traits. But the way my depression fluctuated also gave me some insight into the biological aspect of emotions.) The only "tool" I can recall any therapists giving me was one very specific relaxation ritual; I haven't used it much.

Well, CBT techniques are good at fixing "cognitive distortions" and such. Cognitive distortions can cause or exacerbate mood problems, so CBT can potentially help mood problems for that reason. However, if you don't have very many cognitive distortions, or if they're not the cause of your mood problems, I can't imagine that CBT techniques will help much.

While it's probably impossible to have zero cognitive distortions, doing a lot of metacognition could help prevent them or fix them early. I'd guess people who are particularly intellectual/in their heads tend to do a lot of that? In that case, any mood problems they still have are due to a different cause.

I recently found out that my therapist was unaware of the idea of depression being an biological health problem. (My particular situation provided more evidence than normal that the problem was biological, but she seems to figure I'm some kind of anomaly.) I figured that sort of thing would be drilled into them in therapy school, but apparently not. This therapist otherwise seemed competent and knowledgeable, so now I'm wondering how many other therapists have this blind spot regarding mood disorders.

I have seen my new therapist twice and already she has given me some tools that work really well. I have hope.