CBT

Post Reply New Topic

I was referred to see a Health Trainer by my doctor to have cognitive behavioural therapy to help with my depression and with some of my AS traits, I had 4 sessions in as many months. The first session consisted purely of discussing my issues and what I wanted out of it, in the second and third session she attempted to teach me to meditate and body scan. Unfortunately I found it impossible to meditate as I have a very busy mind, and really struggle to relax, this basically meant that meditating just made me more anxious. On telling this to the health trainer on the forth session she basically said that if I couldn't meditate there was nothing more she could do for me , even though at the beginning when I had asked what we could try if meditation didn't work she assured me that there were a range of techniques and treatments we could try instead.
My doctor wants me to try CBT again with another health trainer, but I have been let down by so many people so many times I don't think I can go through it again.

Has anyone had any success with CBT? Is it worth giving it another go?

I had CBT for 5 years following my AS diagnosis. My therapist was great and overall it was very helpful. My social skills improved greatly as did my daily living/coping skills. I think with the right therapist CBT is incredibly beneficial for those with AS and/or depression.

Meditation isn't supposed to be easy. Just as in weight training, you work against a resistance and gradually learn to detach from the way your brain tries to jerk you around.

Maybe my knowledge is outdated, but for me, meditation isn't the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the term "CBT". Apparently, CBT can mean one thing with one therapist, and something completely different with another.
You might want to try another therapist that focuses on challenging and changing your thought patterns. You could also read a book and apply the approach to yourself, e.g. the classic "Feeling Good" by D. Burns (there may be better books now, but this is the one I remember).
This might be easier for you because it is a logical and systematic approach instead of an experiential one. (although a combination of both might yield the best results)

I'm surprised that you only had one session per month - that's probably too much time between sessions to be effective.

I'm glad to hear that you had some success with CBT DrHouseHasAspergers, it makes me feel a little more hopeful about trying again.

I think your right LookTwice when you say that 4 sessions in 4 months wasn't enough, but I didn't have much choice in the matter, getting anything like CBT on the NHS is like finding a needle in a haystack, and I can't afford to go privet.

I really did try with the meditation, making myself do it twice a day for 3 months. I think the problem was that I had at most an hour and a half instruction of guided meditation, so I didn't really have a good enough idea of how to meditate properly.

I'll give it another go, but I think I'll try to get the new therapist to focus on techniques that don't involve meditation.

CBT was useless for me. I needed medication. When my medication was off my thinking was so distorted I didn't even want to feel better or change my thoughts. I just wanted to hurt myself and I didn't want to not want to hurt myself.

You can't help someone with CBT who doesn't want to be helped but the reason I didn't want to be helped was partly due to some chemical issues. If my OCD, depression, or whatever it was made me not want to get better then I wasn't going to try and get better. CBT was useless.

Once my Clomipramine dosage was increased my feelings changed completely. Suddenly I wanted good things instead of being in the backwards mindset I was.

Since I wanted to feel better CBT was capable of helping me but I was already a master. I had been using it and intentionally directing my thoughts towards negative things in order to make myself feel bad. Since I was in my backwards mindset and I wanted to feel bad I was already using CBT and directing my thoughts in order to achieve that. It didn't take much to do the exact same thing to feel better once I wanted to feel better.

I was just being uncooperative with my therapy and using the same principles they were trying to teach me and hurting myself with them on purpose.