Has Cognitive Behavioural Therapy worked substantially for anyone?

[FordingTheWaters]

I'm considering trying it with a CBT practice in my city.

My insurance most likely doesn't cover it, so I'm looking at shelling out a substantial amount of money for it. I'll consider it well worth it if there was a good chance that it would help me get closer to living a functional life. I understand that there are risks to any kind of treatment.

I hear that it is highly effective in treating anxiety, but if anyone here has benefitted from it, I'd love to hear their story. Personal stories in my opinion speak louder to me than clinical studies (and this is coming from a psychology major!).

Thank you! =)

[jessed03]

It's worked for me big time. Without it, I'd still be a depressed kid, making excuses for my life, whining at everybody else for 'not getting me'. It also spanked my anxiety like a naughty school girl. (Sorry, only analagy I could come up with)

Interesting thing is though, most of the CBT I learnt on my own, was the most effective. I got a couple of books, a lot of notepads, and just set about understanding my mind. Why it did what it did, what it was afraid of etc. I don't know what CBT is like in the USA, but all my therapist did was copy notes from a book I already had, and explained to me the same old theory "Bad thoughts cause bad feelings"... Yeah dude, like I hadn't guessed that already!!!

It became too slow for me, waiting for a weekly session. Plus, some weeks I never had many problems, so I wasted sessions.

If you're a quick learner, you can definetly learn this stuff from a good book. The idea is simple. The mind is a ripple effect, affected by a chain of reaction. Thought is caused by belief. Belief causes fear. Fear caused symptom. So in essence, figure out why you believe what you do, and change it. If you can't figure it out, no problem, just fill in a form enough times, and your mind will change it's habits.

However if everything is going at 100mph, a therapist will be really helpful in slowing it down, and helping you dig deeper than you would have wanted to do yourself.

[NixonRulz]

Cognitive Therapy can be great as long as the person you are working with is someone you trust.

My key to success with it was, not to do or go somewhere that caused me to panic and try not to panic, but go there, feel the flood of adreneline and stay or continue to do what I ws doing until it left me first.

I fought it for years. Neber worked but hell, I kept trying.

My success, and most peole that I see here have had success once they stopped fighting, welcomed, acknowledged, then accepted what was going on and realized it ws just anxiety.

Good luck with your plan and keep posting your progress with it.

[becki]

I've been doing it since dec and love it. You do have to make an effort to do your homework which is often exposure therapy.

[jessed03]

I've been doing it since dec and love it. You do have to make an effort to do your homework which is often exposure therapy.

Yeah, I should add onto my post above. If you need exposure therapy, then a therapist is really worth the money. Keep going strong Becki :)

[Ahlstrom]

My therapist helped me get over the smell of marijuana setting me into a panic attack. I developed my anxiety disorder after I got really drunk and smoked some, my heart went into overdrive and I went to the hospital. It was devastating to me that pot went from being my friend to my enemy after being a heavy daily smoker for two years. I couldn't hang out with my friends anymore because they were always smoking, nor could I go to my heavy metal concerts because people are always smoking there.

Anyways, he taught me how to change the direction my brain goes whenever I smell weed now. It really only took me about 2 weeks of daily exposure (gradually building up the time each day) to be able to not have any bad symptoms around the smoke or smell. Be prepared to face your fear or anxiety head on. I'm really glad I went into cog therapy, now I can hang with my friends and go to concerts.

[cabcom]

Very helpful. Great post.