Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

[Dollie]

Has anyone ever had CBT and if so - what was it for if you don't mind telling us all ?? Thanks in anticipation

[Kay]

Hi Dollie, CBT is used on patients for many things. Supposing a person is agoraphobic or phobic of spiders. The therapist will talk to them about their problem then using baby steps teach the patient how to overcome their fear i-e looking at a drawing of a spider then touching a toy one etc. A therapist would take an agoraphobic person for a short 5 minute walk leading upto longer walks. They also teach breathing tecniques. It depends what the problem/illness is.

[bellasasha]

i had CBT at the priory...i went for eating disorders... it makes you realise that everything you do to yourself is a viscous circle....it helped me realise loads of things about myself...its quite scarey too!!

[Kay]

Did it help you bella?

[bellasasha]

it did....it just puts things into perspective

once you learnt the tecniques you can do it yourself.

i would advise anyone to use it if they have issues

[Kay]

I had it to help me get over agoraphobia back in the 80's. Like you say bellasasha,we can learn to overcome things on our own. Im glad you're ok now anyway. x

[bellasasha]

ditto FINA

take care xxxx

[malaise]

I've had CBT and personally thought it was a bit rubbish. It's basically common sense. I had it for depression and anxiety. They point out to you that feeling worthless or scared is an unjustified thought, and the "cognitive" part of it is that you teach yourself by affirming the positive of the situation, rather than the negative. e.g "I'm not going out tonight, everyone hates me" turns into "OK, nobody hates me, that's unjustified and I don't have any evidence for it. Nothing bad happens when I go out. I haven't been out for ages, I could do with some fun". I could work that out for myself! Ha.

That aside, I've studied adult clinical psychology, and CBT combined with drug therapy has a 94% (or thereabouts) reported success rate - better than any other counselling therapy. I was probably just too aware of the processes that the counsellors were trying to encourage.

I'm writing like a complete twit tonight, sorry. I've got lightening creme on my arms and it's making me itch like crazy!

[jno]

I think - and I could be way wrong here - that it is used as a sort of quick fix for problems like those mentioned here. I don't mean this in a derogatory sense, but traditional therapy might take years unravelling your whole life; CBT concentrates on solving individual issues that are causing problems in your life, so can produce quicker results.

[alijangra]

I had it as a treatment for depression and thought it was very useful indeed.

[little coojy]

i had it for agrophobia and panic attacks, it taught me how the feeling can build up and how to be in control not let the fear control you, i found it helped loads. it wasn't easy and there was no quick fix, but it does help.i was house bound for months and had panic attacks everyday usually more than one, after finishing my course of cbt i havn't had a bad one feel a slight blip somedays but keep control of it.

[malaise]

jno - it's not really a quick fix as the theory behind it is that (for depression, say) we have trained ourselves into a negative mindset, whether as a result of a particular incident or just due to persistently negative / depressed thoughts.

Traditional therapies e.g psychotherapy are rarely used now, due to the huge time investment required by the patient and counsellor, plus the controversy over the usefulness and validity of the psychodynamic approach. CBT, conversely, trains the patient to think differently, and so the majority of the legwork is done by the client through homeworking, and maintenance of the methods used in the therapeutic session.

[sense4all]

A family member who suffers from clinical depression has just started a course of CBT. I am unsure of the benefits of this for someone who has a physical chemical imbalance, I await the outcome with some interest. I do not think that it will be a success in this instance. They however have entered into it with a PMA - so I have kept my thoughts to myself so as not to scupper the results.

[Dollie]

Well thank you all so much - what brilliant, informative replies - I'm grateful to you all. I knew what it was but wanted to know what you had all used it for - and I've learnt quite a bit from your answers. Thank you again.Dollie x

[bond]

Hi, does one have to be specifically referred to a cbt specialist by ones own gp? if so, does it cost a lot of money - i can't imagine this kind of therapy / help / advice is totally free ? thanks