Has anyone found that CBT helps health anxiety?

[squashyhat]

I feel I am going mad with my health anxiety. I have been signposted to an NHS CBT programme, but by focusing on the anxiety it just seems to be making the whole situation worse. Has anyone found CBT really worked for them? If so how, and when did you stop feeling desperate?

Bump

I have bipolar with anxiety, and I do find it helps. But, I can't learn the skills when I'm really poorly. So it's best done once medication has started to work and you are improving. I remember beating myself up for not being able to make the CBT work when I was really poorly. A kind psychiatrist pointed out that it was only for mild to moderate anxiety/depression and I should give it a break when I was severely ill. I don't know if any of this will help, but didn't want to read and run.

It depends what has caused it. CBT is great for some, but less so for others. Give it a go to the end

No, it didn’t help me. I just felt like I was arguing with myself and I didn’t believe any of the ‘positive’ things I was trying to say to myself. It does work for some people though and I think there is good evidence behind it. Maybe try a cheaper or free online course before spending anymore. So you can see if it’s for you. My sessions cost £90 for face to face!

I’m doing CBT privately for this and it does seem to be working to some extent. But my experience of a private CBT therapist and NHS had been vastly different. NHS tried to tell me my thoughts were wrong and I could just change them if I thought about things differently. That doesn’t work - we are not stupid, we know things can happen. Private therapist has explained how our brains work and why but importantly has never said my thoughts are wrong. Rather it’s understandable I think as I do about my health. It’s that acceptance of my thoughts that has been helpful and gives “space” to consider next step to take

I'm having CBT and I'm also feeling worse. I feel like they're just telling me not to be anxious. If I knew how to to that it wouldn't be a problem.

They keep saying I need to refocus when I'm anxious and use the grounding technique but it just doesn't work for me. I have no control over my thoughts, my brain just feels a mess.

No it didn’t work for me, therapist realized quickly it wasn’t a fit. What works for me is exercise, time outside and keeping busy

CBT has really strong evidence behind it, it can be very effective.

However I found the NHS CBT completely useless.

I have read the evidence. It's terrible research.
That said, I'll repeat what I said above... it works great for some people for some conditions.

It is not the universal solution that CBT therapists, or 'the evidence' say it is.

Yes it helped me but so did Citalopram along side it