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Bernadette · 11-20-2008, 06:35 AM

I think I really made progress when I did a course of CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy).
I was so blue and depressed and even with a few years of recovery work and counseling I still had this cloud over me!

At a University nearby I got a CBT counselor - very cheap $15/week - it was a program run by grad students overseen by practicing therapists. WOW it really opened my eyes to the responsibility I bear for my very thoughts and how strongly they affect me!

I liked CBT because I had "homework" it was very practical therapy - it wasn't hours of talking about my alcoholic family & childhood - it was hours of paying attention to my thoughts and breaking them down on a scale from rational to irrational. And finding a way to be honest with myself- not tear Myself down all the time- but also not just fake Pollyanna sappy positive. Rational. Rational. Rational.

I had to "learn" it. It didn't come naturally. I still need to be mindful - especially as winter and the holidays and darkness come- I have to be on guard for savage self-defeating thoughts-- see where they are coming from and actively replace them with REALITY and rational thinking.....

I find face to face therapy takes me farther faster but there is a workbook "The Feeling Good Handbook" (I think) that shows a lot of the scales and exercises we used in CBT.

Progress, not perfection right?
Peace-
B.

11-20-2008, 06:35 AM	#10 (permalink)
Bernadette Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Boston Posts: 1,640	I think I really made progress when I did a course of CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy). I was so blue and depressed and even with a few years of recovery work and counseling I still had this cloud over me! At a University nearby I got a CBT counselor - very cheap $15/week - it was a program run by grad students overseen by practicing therapists. WOW it really opened my eyes to the responsibility I bear for my very thoughts and how strongly they affect me! I liked CBT because I had "homework" it was very practical therapy - it wasn't hours of talking about my alcoholic family & childhood - it was hours of paying attention to my thoughts and breaking them down on a scale from rational to irrational. And finding a way to be honest with myself- not tear Myself down all the time- but also not just fake Pollyanna sappy positive. Rational. Rational. Rational. I had to "learn" it. It didn't come naturally. I still need to be mindful - especially as winter and the holidays and darkness come- I have to be on guard for savage self-defeating thoughts-- see where they are coming from and actively replace them with REALITY and rational thinking..... I find face to face therapy takes me farther faster but there is a workbook "The Feeling Good Handbook" (I think) that shows a lot of the scales and exercises we used in CBT. Progress, not perfection right? Peace- B.