• 🇬🇧󠁿 🇸🇪 🇿🇦 🇮🇪 🇬🇭 🇩🇪 🇪🇺
    European & African
    Drug Discussion

    Welcome Guest!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
  • EADD Moderators: Shambles

Online Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

JohnnyVodka said:
CBT doesn't actually teach you to be calm. I just find it a bit simplistic is all. If only everything could be solved by following a few instructions and challenging your beliefs... (What if your anxiety stems from something real/actual experience rather than irrational thoughts?) There's a fair amount of debate over whether CBT actually works long-term. I just consider it, alongside self help books, as not particularly useful - for me, at least - and am suspicious when it's touted as a wonder cure. Maybe face-to-face it might work better?

It's one thing reading about how you should behave - quite another putting it into practice. 5-htp is the thing that's helped me most. It at least gives you a fighting chance in anxiety-provoking situations, as it seems to put brakes on physical symptoms (increased heart-rate, etc).
Click to expand...

CBT is good for some people. My other half for instance was assessed to find out if counselling or CBT would be more beneficial. He was offered CBT. Which is what he wanted but for others Counselling is best. I was offered the choice of either as well as both. I've done counselling, I would like to try CBT.

CBT is usually face to face. This was recommended by my doctor as something beneficial while I'm on the waiting list. Some people dont like face to face. For those this is fantastic.

To each their own.
 
JohnnyVodka said:
No, I haven't. I'm not very good at discussing issues and can't imagine talking it through with a doctor. But, like I said, I do okay these days, mainly thanks to 5-htp. My problems are mainly due to self-confidence, which has been knocked way too much in the past.

I suppose if you have the courage to talk anxiety through with a real person, that could really help. But you obviously don't get personal support/encouragement from a website programme/book.

From what I've read, CBT is often seen as more a sticky-plaster approach rather than getting to the bottom of issues....
Click to expand...

it's nothing to do with courage, sometimes it's to do with necessity, sometimes you need to/are forced to get better. CBT is the best practical method to deal with anxiety and some forms of depression, while "getting to the root of issues" would be nice (if at all possible, there is a lot of assumption on the nature of anxiety/depression here) CBT offers a practical way that works.
 
I don't want to sound like I'm putting everyone off trying stuff. As I said, i've tried enough books/websites myself, but haven't found anything that's worked for me. Others might do differently.

When you think about it, loads of people probably have undeclared anxieties/insecurities. It's perhaps just part of the human condition. Maybe being 'psychologically perfect' just ain't possible for everyone?
 
JohnnyVodka said:
I don't want to sound like I'm putting everyone off trying stuff. As I said, i've tried enough books/websites myself, but haven't found anything that's worked for me. Others might do differently.
Click to expand...

Good for you for trying but most people are saying that books and websites are probably not enough to get the full benefits of CBT.

When you think about it, loads of people probably have undeclared anxieties/insecurities. It's perhaps just part of the human condition. Maybe being 'psychologically perfect' just ain't possible for everyone?
Click to expand...

Clearly there is no such thing as psychologically perfect, I don't think anyone would argue that that would be the goal of psychological help.

Everyone feels anxious sometimes and have insecurities but it is when those things come to rule over one's life that seeking out help to manage and shrink these things down into a manageable portion of everyday life becomes necessary.

I hope you manage to sort out your issues in any way you find helpful, good luck
 
I had crippling insomnia for about 10 years.

I've been prescribed every drug available. I've lived with the side effects of all of them.

When I moved to a new surgery a few years ago my new GP looked at all the drugs I had been prescribed over the years and said "wow, we need to get this sorted, you're young and you can't spend the rest of your life popping pills to help you to sleep".

Within 2 weeks I was started on a 9 month course of CBT on his recommendation.

I'm the biggest sceptic imaginable. I'm a lawyer for fucks sake, I get suspicious when my mum tells me she loves me. I don't believe anything that anyone tells me unless I can verify it myself. I don't believe that anyone can understand the human mind sufficiently to be able to "reprogram" it.

That said, CBT probably saved my career and my sanity. The whole point of CBT is to "see through it".....to be able to see through the terminology, the discussions and then to see how it all fits. It's not a sticking plaster, it's not a cure, it's just a way of allowing you to see how your brain reacts to certain situations and finding ways to get your thought process out of the rut that it may be in.

It might not work for everyone (I certainly didn't think it would work for me), and it takes a long time and a fair bit of effort, but it's a hugely enlightening process that tells you more about yourself than you would probably ever find out otherwise.

You've got nothing to lose with CBT, if anything it's worth going just for a bit of a chat about yourself. ;)
 
JohnnyVodka said:
CBT doesn't actually teach you to be calm. I just find it a bit simplistic is all. If only everything could be solved by following a few instructions and challenging your beliefs... (What if your anxiety stems from something real/actual experience rather than irrational thoughts?) There's a fair amount of debate over whether CBT actually works long-term. I just consider it, alongside self help books, as not particularly useful - for me, at least - and am suspicious when it's touted as a wonder cure. Maybe face-to-face it might work better?

It's one thing reading about how you should behave - quite another putting it into practice. 5-htp is the thing that's helped me most. It at least gives you a fighting chance in anxiety-provoking situations, as it seems to put brakes on physical symptoms (increased heart-rate, etc).
Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean and, to be honest, I feel the same way. It clearly works incredibly well for a great many people but I've been referred for CBT twice and found it facile and useless. Maybe my reaction is simply down to the issues I may or may not have but I spent every session thinking "Yes... that's blindingly obvious but doesn't help me in any way". I do realise how arrogant that sounds - and truly don't mean to belittle the obvious benefits that it has had for so many - but I found it simplistic beyond belief and it didn't help me in the slightest.

That's not intended to be anything like as derogatory or insulting as I'm pretty sure it must sound cos I have heard so many incredible success stories that it is obviously an extremely effective treatment for vast numbers of people... but it did nothing for me at all. Was kinda gutted cos it seems to work so damn well for so many others too.

Great resource there though, Sadie. Have bookmarked it and will give it another shot to see if the online version is any more use to me - it's quite possible I just had poor practitioners on the occasions I have been in treatment before so no harm in trying. Nice post :)
 
I know exactly what you mean and, to be honest, I feel the same way. It clearly works incredibly well for a great many people but I've been referred for CBT twice and found it facile and useless. Maybe my reaction is simply down to the issues I may or may not have but I spent every session thinking "Yes... that's blindingly obvious but doesn't help me in any way". I do realise how arrogant that sounds - and truly don't mean to belittle the obvious benefits that it has had for so many - but I found it simplistic beyond belief and it didn't help me in the slightest.
Click to expand...

I understand what you mean completely here shammy, I have been referred to CBT 4 times and only found it helpful the final time. I had exactly the same attitude to you for the first 3 times it was tried and only found it helpful the fourth and final time in which I had a psych which i "clicked" with fully. It's because of this I stress the importance of the face to face side of things. For me at least it wasn't by the book CBT which was helpful but a person who could apply the principles and work with me in the best way. I wouldn't write of the whole method as simplistic until it has been applied (along with councilling) in the perfect way.
Again this is not to say it will be effective in every situation, just to say that however simple you find the concept yourself, that even if you have written it off (as I had done) that it can still be amazing in the right hands.
 
Yeah, I have a feeling that it may well have been more down to seeing "the wrong" therapists the times I've been under CBT, Evad. I'm pretty sure that seeing somebody that, as you mention, you click with could make the world of difference. To be honest, the two guys I saw seemed to be bored with the whole process and just passing time between pay-cheques :\

In an odd way I think the blank facelessness of an online course may actually work better for me. Certainly better than someone who just seemed burnt out and going through the motions anyway. Never going to be the same as face-to-face treatment with a genuinely good practitioner but has to be an improvement over what I've had. Or at least there is no harm in trying so will certainly check it out :)
 
yeah i could see how self CBT could work better than a psych you didn't click with, I had pretty much written it off completely until my last experience and now preach the benefits!
the people you have seen were male? not sure why but i think i'd only ever be comfortable with a female brain shrinker.
 
I was gonna give this a bash ages ago, it's not new btw been around for couple years at least, but I didn't make much progress with it. Found it boring and there was little incentive to stick to it, for me doing it with a faceless online system just doesn't work.

Wouldn't mind giving CBT a bash for real like.
 
Evad: Yup. First time was with an old geezer clearly just counting the days till he got his gold watch and the second was with a younger guy who just seemed to be a nobend. I can also talk far, far easier with women than men and honestly think that almost any woman on Earth would have been more helpful to me than they were - probably more than any man could ever be. Call me a sexist pig but women are just so much better at that sorta thing that men should be barred from the profession on principle, in my opinion ;)
 
This would have been perfect in TDS. I hope folks outside EADD see this also. I think anyone can benefit from this, not just the EADD crowd.
 
TheSpade said:
I was gonna give this a bash ages ago, it's not new btw been around for couple years at least, but I didn't make much progress with it. Found it boring and there was little incentive to stick to it, for me doing it with a faceless online system just doesn't work.

Wouldn't mind giving CBT a bash for real like.
Click to expand...

The website is new, not CBT. I'm gonna explore the site today. Was too tired to give it my full attention yesterday.

Z Y G G Y said:
This would have been perfect in TDS. I hope folks outside EADD see this also. I think anyone can benefit from this, not just the EADD crowd.
Click to expand...

I did post in TDS for my fellow DS'ers.
 
I was talking about the website. The website isn't new, I've got an account which I set up around 2 years ago.
 
ah, I was told its pretty new. I think its only just getting rolled out on a mass scale now. My GP was only told about it this week. Thats the NHS for ya.
 
To be fair to gps they have such a vast swathe of things to know and keep up to date with it's no real wonder that many of them end up with limited indepth knowledge of things.
 
Kind of what I thought. My GP's are really good. I can see either of them at my surgury. They're both very thoughtful and enjoy their job and seeing people right. Glad he knows now and passed that on to me.
 
Great thread Sadie and very useful resource for those who can't access face-to-face CBT but are committed to giving it a go.

I've done it myself in conjunction with therapy and found it very useful for my circumstances.
 
^ my IQ is 3 points higher than it was before I started abusing drugs.

I sleep better than before I started abusing drugs.

My general anxiety levels, despite my job and life becoming more stressful, are at their lowest ever.

My general outlook on life is the best it has ever been.



therefore, drugs are good for you. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top