Ive done CBT probably 5 or 6 times in my life, but its been about 10 years since I last engaged with any type of therapy.
What can I expect to experience in my CBT sessions? I can't remember anything about the sessions I did previously, just that it didn't help
Ive been seeing her for like a yr and a half. I’ve never cried in a session. I have mdd PTSD etc. I feel like attachment or whatever. I hate it but also it feels like important.
I’ve been thinking about our session , and I realized there was something important I couldn’t say in the moment because I was tearing up a lot today bc of everything.
When you asked what I was thinking right now towards the end, what was actually going through my mind was that I found myself wishing I could text you. The more I’ve sat with it at the beach today, the more I realize it wasn’t really about texting itself. It was about how big the contrast feels between how contained and understood I feel in session and how dropped or alone I can feel in between sessions. That contrast hurts more than I realized.
It also made me remember around Christmas break when you had said that if things got really bad I could text you, and I never did. But, part of the reason was that I wasn’t really sure what that meant or what was okay, and I was so afraid of crossing your boundaries that I decided not to reach out at all.
I know I need to keep building supports here, and I am going to keep reaching out and doing that. ** text me today, a gratitude list and I told her I was grateful for therapy today and for her texting me. I don’t want or expect you to become my primary support, and I’m not looking for crisis texting or immediate responses.
Part of this also feels like growing pains. I know we’re working on me tolerating more, trusting myself more, and building supports instead of relying on one person. I really am trying to do that. However, this separation feels like one of the biggest transitions of my life, and I think it’s stretching my attachment system in ways I didn’t fully understand until today.
I think part of what came up for me is that email often feels like processing something after the wave has already passed. What I found myself wishing for was a way to share certain moments while they were actually happening, just small moments of movement or progress, like getting the apartment keys, a picture from the beach or paddle boarding when I’m choosing healthy coping, or another “I did the thing” moment that represents moving forward in the work we’re doing.
I was wondering whether or not , during this separation and move, there is any contained form of between session contact that you think could be therapeutically helpful. If that’s not something you offer, I completely understand. It felt important to ask rather than make assumptions, because you already know when I don’t ask, I tend to fill in the blanks with fears that I’m too much or that I’ll be rejected.
There’s no pressure to respond to this by email. I know it’s a bigger question, and if it makes more sense to talk about it next week, that’s completely okay with me. I mostly wanted you to know what was happening internally because I couldn’t find the words in session or whatever.
Thank you for reading this. This was really vulnerable for me to write, and honestly I felt embarrassed even asking. But it felt more important to be honest with you than to keep wondering on my own.
Hello, just wanted to know what you uee to keep a track if your mental health…any tools, frameworks kr apps etc? And if it helps. Both long and short term ?
I’ve just had my second session CBT (remotely), and honestly I think I feel worse coming out of it than I did going in.
My tasks for ending my first session to talk through in my second session. Were to go through and create my own vicious cycles and identify the factors. I created two as I didn’t feel everything fell into one. Also to have three goals to work on within the sessions.
This session we’ve gone through both of the vicious cycles and he’s noted all the things I’ve noted on them also my goals.
He’s then asked that between now and the next session I keep a symptom diary to pinpoint thoughts, feelings & symptoms and to question why I’m feeling that way; reflect on them. Question what I think is going wrong in this vicious cycle.
And honestly, I’ve brought somethings up in my cycles that I barely speak to anyone about. Especially someone I don’t know. So feelings and emotions are raw and I feel like I’m uprooting those thoughts and feelings for then the session to just end…I feel like I’ve almost been left exposed, bare and dealing with the upheaval of these feelings and emotions….am I doing the wrong therapy?
I am in need of help. I just started cpt and I am really stuck on how to write this "impact statement". My therapist recommended I write it based on my trauma/abuse as a whole rather than one specific event. But I am not sure how to even start and I really am not getting these stuck points. I looked up stuck points online but none of them stick out. I can't for the life of me figure this out. (I also have a bad learning disability so that doesn't help). Please any guidance any one could give would be super helpful!!!! Thanks in advance!
I remember treading years ago in the book Feeling Good in the chapter on behavioral activation Burns mentioned an artist or writer who believed there were totally incapable of producing any more art and were challenged to just put a line on paper and then proceed from there.
I feel I am in a situation where I am in complete inertia due to depression. I lay in bed all day on my phone and would like to accomplish something, but don't know how. I feel part of the problem is behavioral, I just have a habit of being lazy, and partly mental, I exaggerate how difficult anything will be.
What is a resource that's helps counter this type of inertia?
a few years ago when i was so depressed and couldnt afford to seek therapy i tried to seek help from some ''fortune tellers'' (its not the same as tarot but its the astrological birth chart heavily influenced from China and popular in Vietnam to predict your future like career, love life, family..). So what did i get? they told me i will get KARMA fast if i dont help people, im a traitor in my family bloodline, and whats more? after my 50s they predict i will go full monastic life. I mean not only one but many said that. and now my head cant escape from their words, its like imprinted in my brain.
My T is CBT and DBT informed and I feel like I never really know what to talk about. What are some of the things you discuss with your T?
Just looking for some advice on how to get the most out of my sessions.
I am interested in the cognitive model on which Cognitive Therapy and/or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are based. I am talking about how our cognition works, cognitive distortions, cognitive dissonances, and the role of emotions in it. My research has led me to Aaron Beck. In particular, I was thinking of reading the following books by him:
Depression: Causes and Treatment (1967)
Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders (1976)
Do you agree or do you think that there is better? For context, I don't have a degree in psychology nor did I ever have a formal education in it. I am just an interested amateur.
Hello!
I was in CBT for 3 months (had to stop because I have ran out of money for it now). My therapist in our last meeting said that I had to keep up with worry (thought) postponement, mindfulness and stopping daydreaming outside its reserved time. I wasn't applying them very well throughout those 3 months. Now I am trying to turn them into my brain's default habits, but it feels forceful. I had asked this to my therapist before and she said that it is normal because brain does not want to change its habits easily.
I am trying to be gentle, but nevertheless I feel like when I am doing my tasks I have to fight my brain to not be drawn to overthinking and daydreaming. It is weird because I do not come up with specific thought that I can delay. It is just that my body feels this urge that is drawing it to getting into my head. Am I actually fighting dissociation, could it be that?
I really want to take this break in therapy as an opportunity to practice skills I hadn't done very well at the time. But this feels so hard. Is it supposed to?
Can anyone help me I’m having a mental health crisis I want CBT therapy I’ve gone through the NHS and have an assessment soon but feel like i need to speak to someone now. I want to hurry up the process as I keep spiralling. I’m in the north West of England if anyone can help
Hi All !
I read feeling good back in 2020, and feeling great after that, and I've had periods where I've been doing the daily mood log consistently and everything in my life improves. However I find its the habit I taper off on and struggle to keep up with the most out of all my daily ones (Gym, meditation, reading)
Do you guys also find this ? I think it might be because it's a little tedious to get it all setup and is hard work trying to counter each negative thought and eventual SDBs.
Every morning:
**•** How am I feeling *right now*, in my body?
**•** What’s one thing I want to bring into today?
**•** What do I need from myself today?
Every night:
**•** What was hard today, and how did I get through it?
**•** What’s one thing I did that was kind — to myself or someone else?
**•** What do I want to let go of before I sleep?
**•** What does the most compassionate version of me want to say to me right now?
I’m having CBT for panic attacks which were controlled by a low dose beta blocker. But I didn’t like the sides and then my anxiety got worse and I had attacks whilst on them.
I referred myself for CBT and was accepted a text-based CBT treatment. I successfully had CBT face to face years ago which focused on coping with panic symptoms, lowering overall stress and exposure to trigger environments.
From the get go I found the text-based therapy unhelpful and critical, even though I think what they’re saying may be somewhat true. The CBT therapist feels I’m avoiding the attacks themselves, which is the root problem. During attacks my heart-rate goes extremely high (160-190) and gets stuck in a cycle of panic. The CBT therapist told me to come off the beta blocker and accept these attacks which happen every day. So far I have not been able to tolerate one without taking a beta blocker.
I’ve explained how unpleasant they are and how they last longer than 30 mins and can go on for hours so and asked how is sitting in that going to help. They have now stated that I am seeking reassurance by asking that and I just need to accept them. Or take Sertraline. But they told me I mustn’t take beta blocker long term for panic as it’s avoidance.
I have no confidence they’re solving this problem or are engaged in any way. They seem to just repeat a “gold standard” template, and tell me I’m wrong because it’s not working. Patently, sitting with an extremely high racing heart for hours on end is not going to solve my anxiety attacks on its own and is disruptive. Of course I want to avoid that.. I asked what I should be doing mentally and they offered no advice just cryptic “you know what you should do: acceptance”.
I just wanted advice here - my previous CBT therapists were really empathetic, thoughtful, invested. But the current therapists says they were bad therapists if they didn’t truly treat the problem.
I just have bad vibes about them, even if I suspect the theory is right. Advice?
So a few months ago my anxiety shot up out of no where and I was having lots of panic attacks and constant anxiety and DPDR that I could not get out of. It started to affect my life a lot so I went to the gp and they referred me to CBT. It took 3 months for me to actually get it and since then my anxiety levels have gone down to almost back to normal. And now I feel like I don’t really need it and I feel guilty that I could be taking it from someone who could need it more than me. I’ve only had a few sessions and all they are talking about is panic attacks which I only really have once in a blue moon now. I don’t know if I should cancel it or just stick with it
(Edit:) I still feel anxiety and racing thoughts but not panic attacks