| PolarOne
Super Member (250+ posts)
456 Posts
Gratitude: 113
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 Posted - 05/30/2005 : 11:56:10
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Hi Sarah,
This form of CBT sounds interesting, and one that I don't know anything about.
The CBT I did was back in '98 (in Devon!) and was only really focussed on the Feeling Good Handbook by David Burns + keeping a journal. I found the 6 sessions a bit brief at the time, particularly after the long wait for them to start! I got the idea however, and still refer to the book now + get things down on paper.
A full course with self-help relaxation exercises sounds better. Also a lot of hard work/ practice no doubt, particularly juggling with other commitments.
Glad it helped you. I'll have a look at this one, next time I'm in the library.
J
"Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title." Virginia Woolf |
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| Heatherzed
Full Member (100+ posts)
241 Posts
Gratitude: 5
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Posted - 11/29/2005 : 04:48:40
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I'm on a course of CBT at the moment.
I am really enjoying it and finding it a help, but I am not sure how much it will change me in the long term. There are only 4 sessions, which does seem far too brief and not long enough for you to go about making such huge changes (I think that changing the way you think about nearly everything - your whole attitude - is pretty big). But it is free, so I cannot complain!
The group is really nice and I was so surprised when I walked in the first time. I did not know what a room full of depressed people would look like! I don't know what I was expecting - for us to be all moaning and weeping or what! - but it was not like this at all. All the girls were so pretty, it was like, how can you be depressed when you look like that?! But I know that is nothing to do with why people get depressed: it can happen to all of us. Everyone was smiley and light hearted though, and the guy who is teaching the course is pretty funny. We were all laughing along to his jokes! It was not like we were a bunch of depressives at all....it must be that most of us cover up our true feelings nuder a facade, I know I do.
It was stressed that this was not a therapy group, so you do not discuss your personal problems with the group. But, you can be anecdotal if something comes up and you have a story about it that agrees or disagrees with the point made. I was qutie glad about the not getting too personal thing, as I find it soooo hard to talk to anyone about my problems, even my boyfriend or a counsillor, so I don't think I would have opened up to a group of strangers.
The best thing about this course is that it is taught in the style of an adult education course, as in, small group with a teacher, but discussion and debate is encouraged. You are treated like a fully functioning adult with intelligence and the ability to solve your own problems, which makes a refreshing change from being treated like a "patient" or some kind of outcast!
Not many people have said much yet, but it takes time to feel confident in these knids of situations. I have not spoken to the group as a whole yet. I might do next time, though, as I am beginning to feel more at ease in the group. It certainly makes it easier to relax when the teacher is so down-to-earth and friendly.
Although I have nothing but praise for this course, I am still unsure of whether it will be successful in changing my negative attitudes for good, as I said at the start of this post. In fact, reading back on what I have just written, there is NO WAY that this course will change my negative attitudes for good. Old habits die hard. But to make just an impact on them, that would be nice. It is certainly interesting and has given me something to think about.
Lots of things that come up are so like me it is untrue! It is nice to know that we are not the only ones; there are a host of other people out there thinking like this, so it is not so uncommon after all.
I just wish this course was longer; then it would have more of an impact on me. I agree with everything that's said and I can see myself in all the thinking patterns...I now know how to change them and what to replace them with, but whether I will change them is the question....
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| PolarOne
Super Member (250+ posts)
456 Posts
Gratitude: 113
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Posted - 11/29/2005 : 16:58:37
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Interesting, I think learning CBT in a group is probably better as you can identify with more scenarios + relate to others, which might help with the isolation thing that often accompanies.
I know I wouldn't have much to say in groups of anything more than about 3 or 4 people however, probably the reason I had the individual sessions!
It does seem a bit rationed to have only 4 sessions, its most likely related to the length of the waiting lists as its a popular treatment for all kinds of things these days. Guess they're essentially just pointing people in the right direction.
I think its definately a skill that requires a lot of practice time to make it really useful. Motivation is the biggest difficulty for me sometimes with this.
Still think about challenging thoughts, identifying 'cognitive distortions/ procrastinations/ self-defeating attitudes'(!) 7 years on, so have found it useful overall, I think. More so if I can get a bit of momentum going with it.
"Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title." Virginia Woolf |
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mindful cbt
