Does anyone have experience of CBT?

Hi Friends,

After reading Dan's book a while ago, I realised that I identified with his symptoms a lot. Long story short, I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder. They put me on what is the equivalent of Zoloft for my medication, and have referred me to take several weeks of CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy).

The nurse I saw advised me on it, and explained that it could be quite intense and difficult at first, but it should really help me going forward. She said they also give you "homework", or things to do outside of therapy that are beneficial.

Has anyone been through CBT? I'd love to know how it was so I have some sort of idea what to expect when I actually go.

Thanks in advance

I've tried but it requires willpower and discipline, which can be hard when you're depressed. Anxiety can interfere too. They help you figure out things you can do (which is the 'homework' and actual main part) to cope, to push yourself etc. and then you report back, adjust the plan and discuss new ideas.

It didn't do anything for me, partly because I couldn't bring myself to do the things we agreed on even though I wanted to. If you have concerns about being able to do what you plan bring them up so you can discuss that, too.

This is about the same that happened to me. I've heard lots of success stories but it just didn't click with me. I went through about a month of it and then just stopped showing up to my appointments. It's not for everyone but it definitely works for a lot of people. Best of luck duder.

CBT can be useful but don't get disheartened if it does nothing for you, people respond differently to different treatments. For example, I never took SSRIs; I took beta blockers which managed the symptoms but made my health anxiety shoot through the roof when I could feel my heart slowing down. Stopped taking those and moved to a private therapist for a year alongside mindfulness techniques, like meditation.

I've never been through CBT, but I had a similar experience to you earlier this year. I tried a bunch of things to try and combat it, although none of them were medical. So, take all this as just a suggestion I guess.

I agree with the MoodGym recommendation. It's a good site, breaks everything into simple, but not patronising, examples and ideas. I would also recommend Dan's book Anxiety As An Ally, and Get Out Of Your Mind and Into Your Life.

Also, on a purely personal front, I've found meditating, doing regular exercise and cutting out porn have helped. I used to listen to a few Anxiety podcasts, but though I can't remember them off the top of my head. I found the other things more useful, to be honest.

My therapist ran me through a program of CBT techniques to combat my anxiety and depression, and though I felt at the time that their impact was negligible, now - years later - those same techniques have proven invaluable in maintaining a positive outlook and preventing relapses. I qualify this with the fact that I am also on anti-depressants, which themselves have made a huge difference in my day-to-day life, so the CBT alone was not sufficient to conquer my mental hangups.

It's often a long, arduous road dealing with issues like anxiety, and it can be rough when progress seems to be non-existent. But the important thing is to keep trying. I've taken numerous approaches that had little to no impact, but eventually I found what worked for me and my life has improved significantly.

You're strong; remember that! :)

I recommend traditional talk therapy. When I did a lot of research and googled names of therapists near me to find one that was a member of psychological associations and had actual scientific papers published, I got a ton of progress.

Dr Drew talks about it sometimes on his podcast. His claim, which I found true with me, is that you need one safe, stable relationship to learn how to actually open up and communicate and just exist comfortable with another person. It seems dumb and impossible at first, but just sitting with someone and talking slowly shows you that you can do that, that the things you say have meaning and are important, and that others won't just attack you every time you open your mouth. This opens the way for self-esteem and getting in touch with yourself.

As others said here, making sure you have good sleep, good diet, good exercise, meditation, all those help a lot of people with regulating this stuff.

I've never been through it with a therapist, but I read David Burns's Feeling Good and did the exercises and it's been the most effective thing for depression I ever tried and I've been severely clinically depressed for about 30 years.

He's also got a good book called When Panic Attacks that helped my nephew a lot.

Look up Burns on YouTube. There are some good interviews and ted talks.

CBT has proven in clinical trials to be more consistently effective than drug therapy for depression & anxiety and if you're self-motivated, you don't need any more than a manual and a notebook to do it.

@fallen189:

Hey dude, I work as a therapist and use CBT techniques mixed with a bunch of other techniques and a foundation of psychodynamic. What you'll find is that there are therapists like me who are eclectic in their treatment while others may only use one technique, like CBT alone, to do their work. A therapist, as a part of their training, learns the most influential therapy techniques and theories and then, based on that information, their experience working in the field and their own personal thoughts and beliefs, decide what type of therapy they wish to practice.

For clients, they may have to move from one therapist to the next to find the right fit for them because not every type of therapy will work for each person. The nurse likely suggested CBT because it is the most popular model of therapy right now, at least in the US. But it may be that you wouldn't like working with a therapist who performs CBT therapy. Or it could be that you like the therapy but not the therapist. I would suggest that, if you want to start therapy, find a therapist who sounds good on paper, visit that person, keep an open mind and see what happens. If it's not a good fit, well, there's no shortage of therapists and eventually you'll find one that works for you.

As for CBT itself, the basis is that one's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are all interconnected. So usually impacting one will impact the other two. For example, to address the social anxiety, a therapist might suggest creating an ordered hierarchy wherein you would state steps along the path of ultimately meeting new people. So step 10 may be a relatively stress free task like reading literature on social skills. Each step would lead to more and more anxiety. The thought would be that as you process the thoughts and emotions associated with the behaviors inherent with each step you would learn how to better control that anxiety response to such a degree that you would no longer need therapy. Essentially you would learn to control the anxiety rather than the other way around.

But that's just an example. There are a lot of ways therapists from all disciplines help with anxiety. For you need that help then I hope you start the process and find a good therapist. Good luck dude!

I've gone through CBT on two occasions, also for social anxiety. The first was definitely more effective than the second, though that was down to the therapist. Still, I can't say it worked as well as I was hoping (it annoys me how CBT is portrayed as a 'wonder drug' of sorts amidst the NHS), however a large part of that was down to how short lived it was. In the UK anywhoo what they refer to as 'Step 2'--which is the lowest stage of CBT--runs for 6 sessions each timed at about 30 minutes... Perhaps that's just normal procedure everywhere, but I don't think that's nearly enough time frankly.

I think that's because it has a pretty great track record when compared to most other therapies. Even the most prescribed drugs rarely fare better than placebo when subjected to clinical trials and most other forms of therapy (especially talk) are difficult to even design trials around.

In the late 80s, the University of Alabama did a study where they gave out CBT books to people on a therapy waiting list and found after 4 weeks that people who read the books had improved as much as ones who saw the psychologist.

I had gone to my first session in CBT, it was much the same as an easygoing discussion, I feel positive after the session. My therapist ( Dr. Eliana cohen ) in Toronto had asked some information about my issues and treatment history. In any case, the thing is that it's hard to bestow our experience to a stranger. Despite the fact that specialist is friendly and kind, I am not prepared to open up all things. I hope this is only a starting trouble and will be more comfortable in the next session.