Cbt

[Bezza1992]

Hi.

So I have just started CBT have had two sessions so far , it's weird , after one session I was able to go to the 02 Arena to watch a huge event with about 30,000 people there and use a public toilet for the first time since having this phobia - Don't get me wrong I maxed out on the anti viral and anti bacterial hand gel and thoroughly washed my hands etc , but I was fine.... I panicked for the 48 hours after using it ,but I was still fine. It was a HUGE deal for me.

I don't feel any better or anything yet , but it's way too early for that !! .... It's just I am really proud I put my mind to something and I done it , so surely that is one good step forward out of the millions I need to take!!

I am going to keep up with it and really put my mind to it , it's my last hope to live a normal life so I am kind of grasping onto it with both hands right now.

There is hope and the one thing I keep telling myself is, NOT EVERYTHING RESULTS IN A SICKNESS BUG, tell yourself it over and over and over again .... I have actually recorded myself saying it and when I feel anxious I play it over and over until I get it in my head that it's probably not going to happen.

I also have my anti sickness tablets , my ginger , my mints , sea bands and water and it is really helping me.

Just need to keep strong and keep battling it.

As I say I will keep everyone up to date with my CBT journey , but please if you want any information on it , what it's like , what it involves, please do not hesitate to email me :

[email protected]

Sam.

xxxx

[KaydeeJayde]

I'm so glad it seems to be helping you! CBT was the biggest help for getting me to the point I'm at at the moment which is SO much better than I was this time two years ago. It's a slow process, but one day I just kind of assessed my life and where I'm at, and realised that really, I wasn't doing too badly. Keep at it and keep us updated!

[stoneskipper]

That's so great! Congrats on taking those first big steps!

[MarrickFait]

What did the CBT do exactly during your appointments?

[KaydeeJayde]

I don't know about the OP, but a lot of my CBT was talking about the root of my phobia, why I have it, how it manifests, and practising physical techniques and mental techniques to combat panic attacks. One of these was visualisation. I had to visualise in my head a situation which would panic me (in this case it was someone vomiting near me on the train in the morning) and deal with that anxiety working on the principle that exposure to what you're afraid of will reduce the fear over time, which worked for me immensely. I was never forced to actually see someone vomit, just like someone with a fear of themselves vomiting won't be forced TO vomit until and if they are ready. Once I had my panic attacks under control, which took a good seven sessions, we moved on to trying to reduce the phobia. A lot of that included rationalising. Eg. What is the worst that can happen if someone vomits near me/What is the worst that can happen if you vomit. I'm not going to die, someone else vomiting doesn't affect me. I assume the techniques would be relatively similar/based on similar concepts, but the therapy is very much tailored to the individual which is why the first session was completely talking about me, so my therapist (which should be someone you feel comfortable with, and trust as much as possible as you can trust a stranger) could get to know me and so could work on a therapy specifically for me.

[MarrickFait]

Oh that's, not what I had in mind at the least xDDD

[KaydeeJayde]

Honestly, CBT is probably the therapy with the highest success rate because of all of the different kinds of things the treatment can include and it can be tailored to you specifically. That said, everyone's different.

[MarrickFait]

Although I doubt talk therapy would work, I should definitely try CBT. Can't hurt to try.

[KaydeeJayde]

Thats what I keep telling you, it's not "talk therapy".

[MarrickFait]

I know, it's aggravating using a Ps3 for internet so I skip on words Besides, I did say that, you just have to connect my posts.

[sage]

The funny thing is, there is no such thing in the therapy world as "talk therapy." Every form of therapy involves talking...what else would you be doing in therapy? CBT is about talking but it's also about teaching. I teach relaxation methods and encourage people to practice them like they're training for the Olympics. We also do exercises that involve developing a hierarchy of fears and then very slowly working through it to desensitize to the fear. As with Bezza, we begin in imagination and if the client's anxiety goes up (no higher than 5 out of 10) in imagination, that's great. If not, or once it won't anymore, I use pictures, etc. to work up the hierarchy. But no step is more scary than the one before, if that makes sense. So if a step scares you 3/10 then after you work with it, and conquer it, the next step also cannot scare you more than 3/10. Anyway, it works with people who work hard at home between sessions but it can take a long time if there are other issues complicating the phobia.

I digress! There is such a thing as psychodynamic therapy or "analysis" which involves talking, as they all do, but nothing else. You talk and the psychiatrist listens. Analysts say it works best if you go 5 days/week for about 5 years. I kid you not.

Person-centered therapy involves active listening by the therapist and relies on the client gaining insight as to what caused the phobia, what triggers it, how one's thoughts about the feared thing are harming, not helping, etc. These therapists are usually lovely, warm people, but it does virtually nothing to rid oneself of a phobia like this UNLESS you are a keenly insightful person. I find very few clients are keenly insightful, and many of them are completely immune to insight.

So my point is that not every type of therapy works for every client and nothing works for everyone across the board. But of all the types studies, CBT has found to help the most people with anxiety or depression. By a pretty wide margin - enough that many insurance companies only cover CBT and nothing else. What is this wide margin? I think it's something like 41%, meaning even still 59% of people are not helped by CBT.

If you really want to get over this phobia it can be done; it just takes time, commitment and dedication.

[stoneskipper]

So my point is that not every type of therapy works for every client and nothing works for everyone across the board. But of all the types studies, CBT has found to help the most people with anxiety or depression. By a pretty wide margin - enough that many insurance companies only cover CBT and nothing else. What is this wide margin? I think it's something like 41%, meaning even still 59% of people are not helped by CBT.

It really surprises me to hear this. I wonder if so many are not helped by it because they give up on it too fast? I just started doing CBT (on my own) around the end of 2010. I was extremely skeptical. I was of the opinion that emotions could not be controlled in any way and that CBT was a nice little fantasy like unicorns. For probably about six months of doing CBT, I didn't think it would work but kept getting told that it would, so I kept "going through the motions" out of desperation. But then I did see it start to work, and to become a habit, and it was such a relief. It has helped me so much. I'm pretty much a CBT fanatic at this point, probably annoying everyone around me by promoting it so much. But it's awesome to me to know that not that long ago, my brain worked in a completely different way, and I changed it for the better.