Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

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

CBT is really good at helping regarding a variety of disorders. It relies upon the mind-body connection, in a sense, that what we think causes how we act and feel, often automatically. I believe this to be true also.

You can find one of my posts, which was selected as a sticky post, at the top of the (psychotherapy) forum... 10 cognitive distortions and what to do about them... which is a basis of CBT.

It's hard work, as any worthwhile therapy is, but can result in good.

Hmm. Far be it from me to contradict wise elder (JD), with the most humongous number of posts! But I must say that my own experience of CBT (six months) was not terribly fruitful. As (JD) has said in her post on this thread, CBT is based on the idea "that what we think causes how we act and feel." Unfortunately, what we "think," to my understanding, as confirmed by my CBT T, means what we think in words, not in images or emotions. And I strongly believe that a large percentage of our difficulties derive from things that happened (internally and externally) before we acquired language. My own personal problems result, it's believed, from things that happened before I began to speak and think in words. And CBT, in my experience, doesn't cover that. So you really need some close analysis of yourself, and some questions to your T, to find out whether CBT will help you or not. Though it certainly won't hurt you. Take care.

I'm currently in CBT for bipolar. I am finding it has some good ideas--such as replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, etc. I definitely encourage you to give it a shot!

Claricus, are you trying CBT?

I've been referred but due to a backlog I have had to wait...
My first assessment is on 1st November, so I will have to wait and see what happens from there.

I've been exposed to a lot of CBT when I was in rehab and when I was IP at the psych hospital. I found it very helpful, and I use the techniques I learned on a semi regular basis.

Hope you find it helpful.

--splitimage

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

My T started mentioning CBT, and gave me a kind of spreadsheet to work on, but we never actually got round to it.

The sticky thread on the top of the board is very good - those 10 points really can teach you a lot

Hi

I have not kind of started CBT. I am not so sure about it. Because I have read a lot about it I know what it is about and everything, but I never really recognise any thoughts. I seem to have periods of feeling down without any thought processes.
Not sure if it will work for me, but I'll persevere for now.

Also, I was just wondering.. I have had all my "sessions" over the telephone. Is this normal? Or is it more common to have face-to-face contact with someone?

Claricus, I asked a practicing psychologist once about what % of depressed clients CBT seemed to help. She said 50-75%. She said the others are depressed but don't really have the negative thinking patterns that CBT can help with. So if your doctor specifically recommended CBT and not just psychotherapy in general, I wonder if perhaps he/she identified some negative thinking in you and so thought CBT would be a good fit?

I have mostly heard of people doing psychotherapy, whether CBT or another type, face-to-face rather than on the phone. Do you know why your therapist is not doing face-to-face sessions with you?

I have read books on CBT and I have found applying the exercises and techniques to work most of the time.

I also use my own handbook to help me. It is CBT based, and especially for Bipolar's too.

Claricus - therapy is most effective face-to-face. It should be telephonic as an emergency between an established client/therapist setup.

Hello there, Claricus!

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of it?
My first experience with Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was a year ago while I was enrolled in counseling at the undergraduate university I attended.

What is it like?
Though I loved and love CBT in theory, I didn't particularly enjoy in practice at first! I felt it was 'silly' to have a 'hot thought' journal (which was a journal where I wrote down what specifically my 'irrational' thoughts were, where and when I had those thoughts and what evidence to not only verify but also deny those thoughts).

In retrospect I felt it was 'silly' because I found that many of my bedrock beliefs were, well, silly in and of themselves. Through CBT I recognized that many of my inherent beliefs were really quite outrageous! ='(

I found it all to be quite irritating! Yet at the same time I began to recognize that in those 'irrational' thoughts there was a consistent pattern and subsequent themes.

Did it work for you?

This all depends on how you define 'work for you'! =)

Yes, it did.

First, I had my own qualitative data that allowed me to pin-point what I struggled with at the 'core of my being'! Abandonment. Anger. Dissatisfaction. Loneliness. Trust. Those sorts of things!

Second, I began developing a cognitive skill that has helped me be a more critical thinker and have more faith in my ability to brainstorm ideas and solutions.

But there was an aspect of CBT that didn't work: with my emotion. As I learned emotion is first followed by the thought. The research and my own experience suggests that altering your immediate emotional reactions are EXTREMELY difficult! Thankfully you CAN learn to manage the emotional reaction by 'controlling' your thoughts. That in turn affects how you handle the emotional reaction.

But I had a lot of deeply internalized pain and trauma that no amount of CBT could help. That pain was best recognized and expressed through catharsis and psychodrama. Thankfully I found that safe environment to cry, scream, yell and wail!

I just wanted to add that there is a free cbt course at moodgym.com that you can do.

Hi. This forum was originally Dr Clay's with references and discussion of his online self help book...http://www.psychologicalselfhelp.org...r6/chap6_.html

He refers to CBT through out the book.. have you tapped into his information?

It's good stuff, imo. CBT and his book.