CBT any experiences

[Viviennemary]

I was thinking about trying CBT for anxiety and occasional mild depression. I've read up a bit about it and see there are some books on the subject. Would I be able to do it myself from a book or would I need a therapist. I don't think I'd qualify for NHS therapy. Thanks.

I had it and it was amazing, honestly life changing, and I was very skeptical.

I think it is great for giving you a framework of thinking to rely on. It's incredible how dangerous and cumulative our thoughts are so it's important to frame them well. I felt that's what CBT did. It gave me an alert when I was thinking in an unhelpful and triggering way and a way to reframe to safer way of thinking. You literally have nothing to lose with trying it.

I just started it today for anxiety. Found a cbt therapist on the BACP website. She seemed very good in our first meeting. Lots of evidence to back cbt up and it’s time limited. My therapists sessions are £60 an hour. I also spoke to another therapist who sounded good but he was £95 an hour. Go for it. Anxiety is the pits. You can also self refer I think on the NHS website but assume there is a waiting list but I’m not sure. Sending you all the best to get it sorted.

Thanks. That was really helpful. I've always been anxious but it's got worse lately especially with lockdown. I got a couple of books on mindfulness but I think I need something more. Maybe a therapist is the best way to go for results.

Yes I’m sure a therapist will be more supportive and then use the books afterwards. Good luck!

Glad to hear you found your first session really helpful yellowrattle. Thats good to know. I looked up some but quite a few are only doing zoom at the moment. I don't think that would be the same so I might wait a few weeks. It always takes me ages to get round to doing things.

Why do you think you won’t qualify for NHS CBT? You can self refer. The waiting list is quite long though.

www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/nhs-talking-therapies/

I didn't think my symptoms were severe enough. And once I'd made up my mind I would rather get on with it. I expect the GP would need to be told which I wouldn't like. I didn't realise you could self refer.

I’m having CBT on nhs I applied in January waited about 4 weeks heard nothing back so I had to contact them again to be told they discharged me I had to refer myself again spoke to a lovely lady who did say it could be an 20 week wait I’m now on week 5 of therapy I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable doing it but that 50 mins a week talking makes a difference

I was referred for CBT by my GP in 2017 - I’m in Scotland and at that point could not self refer without seeing my GP. I was suffering from health anxiety following a traumatic experience with my DD.

It was the best thing I could ever have done. Firstly I was able to speak to someone completely detached from my situation once per fortnight (this suited me for work). I think being able to voice how I was feeling to someone else, someone who has experience of MH and who won’t judge or worry about me was so important. I was also able to learn how to reframe my thoughts. And this has had a lasting impact on how I deal with any “blips”.

What I will say is that my health anxiety became worse while I was attending the sessions, and I don’t think that is uncommon. But this soon changed and it made such a difference to my life.

Another thing I think would be helpful to note is that you get out of it what you put in. Going to a session once per week won’t fix things. I was given homework and I made sure I did it every single week. And i went over my worksheets when I was having a particularly bad day or feeling myself panic. I don’t think I would have found it as helpful if I hadn’t committed to it fully and done the additional work at home.