Has anyone had any success with CBT?

[Oscarthegrouch47]

I wondered if anyone has any experience of cognitive behavioural therapy and if it worked for you?

I have suffered from anxiety for many years now but it's got a lot worse over the past year. I've posted here before about it but essentially I have an illogical fear of being in new or unfamiliar places. I have ibs issues which are made a lot worse by my anxiety and if I'm somewhere without a toilet (for example travelling in the car on a long journey) or going somewhere new I end up in a panic which makes me need the loo even more. Its classic fight or flight/mind affecting bodily functions stuff and it's now stopping me from going places and doing things. I suspect when normality resumes after lockdown it will be even worse.

Before this pandemic started it was getting so bad that I considered asking my GP for medication which I've never done before. But I never made the appointment and now it's hard to see a doctor. I tried cbt once before but it didn't do much good, I think I didn't really click with my counsellor and he didn't seem to inspire much faith in me.

I'm willing to give it another go but I just don't get how it will help. I understand it's about changing thought processes but how? How do you just change the way you think?

I would love to hear from anyone who has experience or knowledge about it.

Bump

Yes, i found it very helpful. However, it only really helps while you are having it. That's what I was told directly by the ...therapist I suppose. I do have coping strategies as a result, but again you have to be in the right place to even think about applying them.

If you still want to consider medication you will be able to get a phone appointment with the GP. They can just send a prescription to a pharmacy for you. They may also be able to refer you for counselling/CBT - I think here at least thy are doing phone appointments.

@Nottalotta thanks for replying :) can I ask what sort of coping strategies you use? I really need to get a handle on my anxiety as it's starting to interfere with my life. I darent even go watch my sons football matches as some pitches don't have toilets nearby and I couldn't entertain the idea of getting on a bus or anything like that.

Just trying to work out what is going to work for me. Cbt or medication or maybe both? But as I said I tried cbt once before and it didn't work.

I came away from my sessions with a kind of personalised plan, a round up of the things I had found helpful. We spoke about what I would do if a certain situation cropped up. It was very personalised. I would try it. I was quite sceptical to start but did find it very helpful.

I've just finished CBT for a huge phobia of the dark that affects my life, work and relationships. I expected very little but it was brilliant and SO SO simple. It's going to take a long time to be free of the fear but I'm already much better and can no see a path that will take me from here to not being scared anymore.
My therapist recommended a book called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. Maybe give that a try if you are not ready for the therapy yet x

Yes, it helped my health anxiety enormously.

It helped and continued to help even when I wasn't having it - although I sometimes need a top up!

Even doing it on line can really help me out for seeing how far my thoughts have gone off track. Online wasn't a replacement for a counsellor but it was brilliant while I was waiting for an appointment and a good way of making sure I kept up with practice.

I did Moodgym which used to be free, but now costs £23 a year - which is still not a lot.

Thanks all it's really helpful and encouraging to see that it can work for people.

Does anyone have any examples of techniques they used to help change their mindset? I seem to remember my counsellor getting me to a do a 'worry tree' which was basically a list of all my worries. It just seemed really forced like a classroom exercise with no sort of result at the end

Yes it really helped me deal with angry outbursts and self harming resulting from stress.
I self referred via my local team, it might be worth having a google to see if your local NHS has the same thing, allows you to circumvent the GP.
I think mine worked so well because I was ready to tackle my behaviour and because I clicked with my therapist.
I don’t have particular go to method to help now, more like my response to stress is reduced and much calmer.

It does help, but I find it wears off. I had CBT sessions back in 2016, and it helped for a good while, but I got out the way of my coping strategies and it fell apart again. I'm now on an online NHS course called Beating the Blues which is really good, but I do find it hard to remember all the coping strategies and put them to use in my everyday life. Definitely a good programme though.

I find it very helpful and you can use it as a self-help tool, so can start immediately if you get hold of a workbook or online programme. I learned the very basics via The Mood Gym an Australian online programme that used to be free but is now behind a paywall. There may be some free ones around now.

I think the free NHS online self-referral IESO scheme is CBT. I used that once and it was very helpful. 6 sessions with an online counsellor.

It is best at giving alternative commentaries/monologues in your head. So if you tend to have a stream of intrusive anxious thoughts or paranoid thoughts or harsh self-judgements, then the CBT alternatives can be 'planted' in there. I notice these days that as soon as a really harmful thought comes into my head, an equally powerful kind one follows, which is such a relief after decades of being unable to control them.

I just don't get how it will help. I understand it's about changing thought processes but how? How do you just change the way you think? I would love to hear from anyone who has experience or knowledge about it.

@Oscarthegrouch47 , if you post an example of an anxious thought that isn't helpful to you, I'd be happy to show you some CBT-style ways of tackling it.

DS2 has high functioning autism and one side-effect of that is anxiety/depression. Autistic people are also known for being highly resistant to CBT. But the other day he was really severely down and had been for a few days, and I was worried about him. I asked him to do some CBT with me for a couple of hours. He claimed it wasn't working but by the end of the session he looked and sounded brighter. He went to bed and next morning the really savagely negative mood he'd been in had lifted. I really think it can help.

@ellanwood thanks so much that's very informative. Ok so my anxiety stems from my ibs symptoms and the worry that I'll need a loo and not be able to access one. But the reality now is that the anxiety flares up even when there aren't any physical symptoms if I have to go on a long car journey or a work meeting or basically anywhere where it might not be possible to immediately get to a toilet. This anxiety triggers off the fight or flight mechanism in me and in turn makes me need the loo. So the two things work in a cycle together. I don't even suffer badly from ibs generally but the panic and anxiety makes it lots worse than it should be.

I'm not sure how I can retrain my brain to not constantly need to be on high alert about finding a toilet. If it wasn't in my head I'm 99% sure that the physical symptoms would disappear or at least be a lot less regular.

I can see how a worry tree might not work as you could get carried away writing things down that the tree seemed overwhelming in itself!

What I remember from Moodgym was that it asked you to do one thing only at first - a much better idea.

One of my examples is I found I did a lot of negative self talk. So I spent a lot of time telling myself I was going to be rubbish at things and had a background narrative calling myself idiot and other negative words. Just changing the one thing, so I called myself by my own name or by a positive name, got rid of a lot of this negative talk as it was a lot harder to keep slagging myself off when I wasn't called idiot.

Also when I realised how often I was calling myself idiot in a day, or even in 15 minutes, it was completely mindblowing.

When I am getting bad again, one of the refreshers I can do is 'are you name calling again' and 9 times out of 10, I am.

So you probably do have an example where you wind yourself up and trigger your own anxiety. It's this sort of thing where you can retrain your thinking.

Hi OP

You should also find some self-help techniques online from recovery college online. Resources are validated by NHS trusts. Has exercises you can work through and is free to join.

Yes, it was excellent.

I was first on site at an awful accident where people had died and was involved until the end in some way. I coped really well at the time but it left flashbacks and anxiety still a few months later. The CBT I had from NHS was excellent and worked well. Its quite slow though, dont expect results after one session. I think I had about 6 or 8.

It helped me and, like you, I had an interaction with a physical condition and anxiety that made the physical condition worse. It helped for four years and then I did another course for slightly different, but connected issues. I've also had CBT for a phobia and that was great too.

I found it useful as it helped me look at situations in a different way. I was suffering with depression and some days I found it so incredibly hard to get out of bed, some days I simply didn't. My therapist helped me see that I did have a choice because I didn't need to get out of bed. I protested and said I had to to go to work, earn money etc. It made he look at things from a different angle because it was a choice to get out of bed and go to work. I had that option, that choice.

I'm probably not explaining it well but it helped me but I suspect that was also the talent of my therapist.

Yes, I found it hugely helpful. Several years ago I had a crippling bout of anxiety and was off work for a couple of months. I had no idea what the source of my anxiety was but I started weekly CBT sessions / therapy and managed to pretty much get rid of my anxiety. I now only suffer anxiety in genuinely anxious situations.

I found CBT helped me 'talk myself down' when I was feeling overwhelmed. You do have to do the 'work' though and I also found that I felt worse before I felt better, but I think that's normal when you're confronting a negative emotion.

I found it helpful, for putting me in charge of my own thoughts.

Yes I would love to feel in control of my mind and body. This is the crux for me. I feel out of control. I worry that I can't even control my stomach and could have an accident at any time. If I could somehow train myself to not get into a heightened state of anxiety whenever i have to go to go somewhere problematic I feel like things would improve. Rather than simply avoiding travelling or going anywhere because I'm frightened of what might happen. It's no way to live.

Yes. I was housebound with severe social anxiety for several years. I had CBT and in a matter of months went from unable to leave the house to getting a job. I’m now fully recovered and work in management.

It was amazing and it totally changed my life. I’d recommend it to everyone. The only thing is, it only works if you’re willing to put the effort in and do what your therapist says, no matter how crazy/embarrassing/uncomfortable.

Small steps, but important ones.

Hi @Oscarthegrouch47,

I agree, that is a tricky one. The sorts of things you could tell yourself are:

Although it's not ideal, I know there are a range of products I could buy and use to ensure that if I had an accident, the social embarrassment would be minimised. These products exist because I am not alone. Lots of people also have this issue. I could look into some forums to find recommendations from people with similar problems to my own. I could buy some of these products and trial them when I am not in a stressful situation, to know how effective they might be.

I know my symptoms get far worse the more stressed I am, so I will find three different methods of self-calming and practise them every day. these could include meditation, self hypnosis, breathing exercises, prayer (if relevant), yoga, stress squeezy balls or toys.

If I know have to travel I can plan in advance and give myself the best chances of not accidents by eating lightly and only eating foods I know are very gentle on my stomach. I could also leave early and make sure I can find a few loo stops along the way or reroute my journey to ensure I pass several suitable rest stops. This is not me being paranoid or difficult, this is a practical and mature approach to my particular situation.

I can also attempt to imagine the worst and imagining surviving it. It might be hugely embarrassing but not life threatening and life would still go on afterwards. I would still wake up next day and be alive. People survive crazy embarrassing things every day. It's not ideal but it's also something that many people learn to deal with and move on from and I could too.

OP, I don't know if any of that helps, but that's the sort of therapeutic self-messaging rationalisation you might get from CBT therapy.