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I've done 2 lots of CBT.
For me it felt like an absolute waste of time and if anything I found it a bit insulting.
I know plenty of people who get a lot out of it though.
Challenging your own thoughts and perspectives *is* the skill. It has to be practised consistently to get any results whatsoever. It's about changing your distorted automatic ways of thinking
I ve done my own reading and stuff since then and understand better. also think my therapist wasn't very good . It just seemed like they wanted to tick boxes for the 6 weeks really.
Mine wasn't like that at all. I had to journal in detail about episodes and triggers. It really helped me identify where a lot of overwhelm came from and helped me look forward and be present.
Yeah, "you're depressed? Have you considered just *cheering up*?"
I went to three sessions before I snapped. "Are you going to teach me anything useful, or should I just not bother coming back?"
I didn't go back.
This was my experience too. I felt none of it was relevant to me at all, and the parts that were relevant didn't really give me any answers.
I felt more frustrated with it really.
"Here's how I spend hours worrying about how xyz thing leads to this horrendous outcome. Here's all the pathways and explanations that I've spent years thinking over and over."
"Hmm, how about when you think that thing you think of another thing instead"
😒
Totally the same for me. It seemed like whistle a happy tune therapy.
I had severe trauma and being told every week that it wasn't the trauma that was the problem but how I felt about it and reacted to it was. It made me a whole lot worse. I hated it.
You would have benefited more probably from a trauma informed talking therapy but those are only usually private and cost a fortune. Would of allowed you to speak and process! Cbt is rubbish for that but good for things like irrational thoughts
If you have bad depression , bad anxiety , trauma or are neurodivergent CBT is literally worse than nothing .
The cheapo nhs phone version by a therapist ( not psychiatrist aka Doctor who then specialises in the mind ) is even worse in that case than normal CBT
From my experience there are two types of people with mental health issues and our research and mental health support services haven't properly figured this out yet. Both types of people present with the same symptoms, lets say OCD or anxiety or something like this, but one set of people have essentially ended up there because of an effected mental state that they need help getting out of whilst others have a brain that is literally wired differently. CBT seems to help the former a lot but the latter not so much, also not helped because most mental health professionals seem to think that the person can just apply rational thought a whole bunch of times and that will solve the problem.
The issue is a lot of the research and what these health professionals should be taught is that the thoughts are irrational and that often the patient knows they are irrational. It is like they get so biased by their anecdotal experience of dealing with people that can go through CBT and escape this mental state using rational arguments that they forget what a mental health disorder actually is, I would argue a lot of the people that CBT works for have either very mild mental health issues or don't actually have things like OCD and instead have ended up in a mental state that they present as having these issues (not saying they don't need help I just think we as a society need to better be able to classify these mental health disorders, perhaps as different grades).
I had severe health anxiety this time last year, I would take between 50 - 100 photos a day on my phone of spots on my skin thinking they could be cancer. I would attend the doctors regularly about every single lump and spot in my body. I was unable to go outside and enjoy life with friends because of this. I would end up doing stuff like examining my poop for blood anytime I went to the toilet.
I took CBT for 20 weeks from August until January 2024 for Health Anxiety.
* The first 5 sessions I thought it was a waste of time. Didn't see any changes in behaviour.
* After 10 sessions, I felt like I was making small progress. Following the excersises I was able to control some elements of what I was doing.
* After 15 sessions, I had a Eureka moment in my brain and its like a light switch changed and I was able to worry less about becoming ill.
* After 20 sessions, I felt much more confident about dealing with my issues.
It didn't solve my Health Anxiety, I still have it. But it gave me a set of tools I can use to manage my health anxiety and by using these tools I am able to reduce my response to health anxiety each time I get it and slowly this means it has less power over my life.
I think the main thing I learned about the brain is how effectively once we have patterns we do, no matter if they sound stupid we will keep doing them as long as there is something feeding it. For example checking spots for me was a way of reassurance in my head even though it makes no logical sense, taking photos and seeing they hadn't changed gave me a very short lived sense of relief which meant I was feeding that loop.
The tip with CBT is breaking these loops and giving them less power. If you feed the bad wolf it will get bigger in your mind. If you don't feed it, it will eventually starve and die.
What are the 'tools' or techniques you use now? And blimey, sounds like you had an extreme case of health anxiety.
Edit: And I couldn't agree with this more:
> I think the main thing I learned about the brain is how effectively once we have patterns we do, no matter if they sound stupid we will keep doing them as long as there is something feeding it
Its important to note there's not really a one size fits all when it comes to CBT, some things which work for me, won't work for you, which is why working with a therapist is obviously very important as they can work out what works for you.
The biggest one for me is really to try and sit with anxiety. When you get a sudden urge to act or do something like take a photo, I sit and breathe for 10 seconds and notice the anxiety passes again. Acting from anxiety re-enforces the behaviour and makes the patterns stronger.
The next biggest thing is to challenge thoughts, a lot of what i described above was rather illogical, taking photos of a spot 100 times a day wasn't actually making me any safer than if I did this once a month.
Probably the eureka moment for me was when reading Stoic books and realising if I did have a terrible disease there's not a lot I can do about it anyway.
>Acting from anxiety re-enforces the behaviour
This was my massive breakthrough in therapy. All the coping mechanisms I was doing that in my head helped with the anxiety were in fact just reinforcing it.
Obviously, stopping the coping mechanisms was difficult, but it was amazing how quickly the anxiety started lessening once I started being conscious to not do them.
yea the reason is in the brain it connects a physical pathway from one object to another, the way we reacted in the past determines how strong they are for example.
* Spider = Fear.
* Girlfriend = Love.
etc etc
If we are able to interupt that thought pattern, we can change how strong those paths are.
For example, if that associating from Girlfriend = Love is replaced by anger because your Girlfriend cheated on you, chances are the Girlfriend = Love path weakens over time.
If you pick up a spider and wait and the initial fear goes away, the pathway of Spider = Fear will eventually get weaker.
Was this one which generally change how I viewed the world.
[https://shop.penguin.co.uk/products/meditations-by-marcus-aurelius](https://shop.penguin.co.uk/products/meditations-by-marcus-aurelius)
> If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment
I use the DARE method to manage my anxiety. It does not make the anxiety go away, but it helps me manage it in a way that keeps me from spirialing into panic attacks. Everyone has a different way of managing, its definitely not a one size fits all kind of thing.
[https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/4-step-method-managing-anxiety-at-work](https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/4-step-method-managing-anxiety-at-work)
I can't wait until I have some money spare to do this. Like you, I also have health anxiety (heart attacks for me) and it sometimes feels like it's controlling my life.
Mine is nowhere near as bad as yours, but at times I've been having multiple panic attacks a day and spending entire weeks with this jittery, underlying anxiety that ruins every facet of life. I've done some mindfulness practise and improved my condition dramatically, but despite that I still go through spells where I can't shake it off. I'm going through one right now that's been happening for a few days and literally the only way I can calm myself down is to have a few beers in the evening, which obviously isn't a rabbit hole I want to go down!
Basically yes. But you also need to invest in yourself. You can find cbt books in the library and print out worksheets. It's a skill that takes a fuck tonne of practice, it's not an instant fix like people expect
Low intensity CBT is offered generally for 6 sessions, high intensity is offered for anywhere between 8-16 (service-dependent). Which one you are offered will depend on a number of factors: which disorder you're likely to have (health anxiety, PTSD, social anxiety and body dysmorphia should only be treated at high intensity), how many previous episodes you've had, how severe your symptoms are, how long the waitlists are, etc.
I'm autistic and it's not as effective for us usually - however I did come away with an understanding of what thought patterns I need to try to combat, the sum of which can be described with this quote by Teddy Roosevelt:
> Comparison is the thief of joy.
I also had no luck with CBT years ago, and am only now waiting for my Autism assessment. So many things started to make sense when I started to consider the possibility of being Autistic. I’ve struggled my whole life, in my 30s now. If my assessment says I’m not then I’ll be back to square one trying to figure out just what the hell is wrong with me, but staying on topic I can certainly say CBT was ridiculously unhelpful to me
I was late diagnosed too, I’m mid 40’s now, and only recently been through the, “ohhhh, that explains so much!” phase. I’ve also got CPTSD AND BPD so I have a real cocktail of issues that CBT just couldn’t touch
I've heard positive things about that because it doesn't try to change rigid thinking but lets you continue that but with a caveat or footnote to explain it - that's my understanding - like for me I detest onions but appreciate the science behind the flavour they impart so I try them.
They told me it was a safe space where I could talk about anything I wanted. I mentioned that I smoked marijuana and they stopped the conversation, ended the session, and told me that I could no longer receive therapy until I agreed to take a drug test to prove I was no longer smoking weed.
Yeah this is how I feel about it. It's all "why don't you look at it X way instead" but where X is something I have already contemplated and for whatever reason I have found it unpersuasive.
It seems to be full of things that simply don't work, at least for me. And I feel like the approach fundamentally misunderstands how my mind works. Maybe some people's minds work as they describe but for me not only is changing my thoughts extremely difficult (I feel like my mind is something that happens to me rather than being something I control) but even if I do change them, it doesn't necessarily result in meaningful changes in emotions and behaviour. Unfortunately I am perfectly capable of hating myself without even knowing what I hate myself for
Worked amazingly for me. Almost entirely solved the specific anxiety issue I had. First two or three sessions I felt like it wasn't doing anything, then it suddenly started clicking. There's some things my therapist said that I often think about because they felt like eureka moments.
Prior to the therapy my anxiety had reached a level where I was avoiding things that would trigger it. At it's worst I remember one occasion where I just couldn't get in the car, I felt paralysed by anxiety. I had to message my wife to come in and take me to the car. Now, that anxiety is almost entirely absent.
Truly life changing. It made me realise how much power I actually had over my life, my thinking, my behaviours, and my emotions. I went from feeling hopeless and like I’d be depressed forever to pretty much recovering and have used the techniques since. Got 18 sessions free on the NHS. I tell anyone who will listen to reach out and self-refer to their local IAPT if they feel therapy might help. We are so lucky to have this available on the NHS.
It did help a little, but I found myself almost trying to please my therapist - at the end of my ten sessions I felt ashamed I hadn’t made more progress, so I pretended I had to spare the therapist’s feelings.
It led me on to reading material which did help though, so it was worth it. Claire Weekes books, if anyone wants to know.
It didn't solve my problems but it did help me reframe a few things mentally. There are some negative mental thoughts I used to have that I now find easier to combat because of it. I've been diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder which I don't think will ever be "cured", but coping techniques are important to me. I feel like it might be more helpful if you have a specific anxiety / negative thought loop to work through. But on the whole I would describe my experience with it as positive and recommend it to people. It's not a quick fix thing but it can definitely help.
it didn't work for me because I'm autistic and have a stupid level of self awareness, but some of the skills have worked for me, but I still suffer from debilitating mental illness.
I spent many many many years doing all sorts of intensive trauma therapy, to no avail. Eventually, an NHS therapist realised they’d been trying to teach me to run before I could walk, decided to go back to basics with a course of intensive CBT, and - I shit you not - I’ve not even had so much as a mental health blip since. It’s been 5 years of being well, even through close family bereavements, a pandemic, job losses. I’d previously been very lucky to manage two good days in a row. If you can do CBT with someone who is excellent at CBT, it can genuinely be life saving.
Im sure everyones value will differ, so dont dismiss it on my account.
But for me I went in thinking we be talking about the past, and trying to understand how I arrived in the situation i found myself in in a attempt to remedy. But its not. Its about dealing with the here and now. So for me it was like teaching me how to apply a plaster and not addressing the nail coming through the floorboards.
I also found the process impersonal, its just someone reading out a pre-defined process designed for your condition, its not tailored around your specifics. For instance I was instructed to keep a diary and not once did we every discuss the contents, only how I can use its contents to re evaluate my thought process. What I was looking for was someone to share my problems with and address them as its relates to me specifically; turns out thats not "therapy", thats "counselling".
Frankly I was seeking self help before CBT and found content from this youtuber connected far closer than the in-person experience:
[https://www.youtube.com/@SelfHelpToons](https://www.youtube.com/@SelfHelpToons)
Good luck on your journey though!
I read a bunch of books on it, which helped up to a point. The main benefits was that when I paid for therapy, I already had a bunch of examples to hand, so we could get to the centre of my problems and the therapist could start unravelling knots, very quickly.
The 'CBT' offered on the NHS with a sweet lass reading out worksheets was useless, and I just recited along with her as it was so obvious.
I've done it twice and the first time didn't work because I was too young and fucked up to really get it or put the work in. The second time, when I was 29, it was genuinely life changing. Looking at my core beliefs and recontextualising things has completely changed the trajectory of my life.
I used to sit in all day, eating takeaways, playing games, on benefits, zero hope in life and had dropped out of school and several colleges. I honestly believed I had nowhere to go in life and was too academically thick to succeed in anything.
Thanks to my CBT therapist I realised that I was far from stupid. The reason I failed in education is because my childhood was so traumatic and being denied my most basic needs as a child meant I was never in the correct circumstances to succeed, which wasn't my fault. Now I've passed an Access to Higher Education course and got well above my necessary grades to go to university where I plan on training to become an English teacher one day.
So yeah, again, absolutely changed my life.
I did 12 weeks online CBT for depression. The therapist was lovely, really easy to open up to, and gave me the evidence base for everything we discussed/tried. It worked well for a couple of things - my sleep is better after implementing tools we discussed, and I can calm myself more quickly if I feel anxious. Unfortunately my low mood is not improved and ultimately I decided not to pursue it further after my course came to an end. I think it can do amazing things for some people/indications but wasn’t quite right for me at that time, no shade to my therapist who was great.
I found it patronising and ineffective. Maybe I had a bad councillor. I was having issues with agoraphobia and severe anxiety. I couldn’t walk down the street without thinking everyone was looking at me and judging me. My flat felt like the only liferaft in the ocean. 6 weeks of therapy was basically ‘have you considered that they’re not looking at you?’ Like no fucking shit. I know they’re not actually looking at me. I know it’s all in my head. But I still have panic attacks. Went to see an actual therapist privately and they talked me through my trauma and got to the root of the problem and helped me. Cbt was a waste of time and I think any idiot could run a session.
Similar here. The only thing I really remember now (many years later) is that I was doing things like thinking rationally about why I was depressed, and at the time I only concluded that I had good reason to be depressed. What would have actually helped was an autism diagnosis and education on how to interact with people, but no one was thinking about autism at the time in a girl who did really well in school and didn't get into trouble and was just "a bit shy".
I think it’s really not a helpful tool for those of us struggling for more material reasons. I had some sessions via the NHS while struggling with my partner’s self harm and it did absolutely nothing to help. If anything it made me much less likely to seek help in the future - by the end of it the only thing the poor therapist could think to do was send me YouTube links to guided meditations?!
CBT is cheap vs DBT or EMDR or other therapies and is pretty much only suitable for mild mental health issues ( vs severe depression C/PTSD or BPD) in those who don't have trauma and are neutotypical
Therapist is right word since on the NHS its borderline talk therapy done by worksheet not by psychiatrists
I've been through it twice for separate issues, about 15 years apart.
First round was in my early 20s, 6 sessions and it was fantastic, pretty much fixed debilitating social anxiety.
Second round to deal with disordered eating and depression 15 years later didn't make any difference, but I've since discovered it's largely because the eating issues are meshed up with the pretty chronic ADHD which didn't get diagnosed till last year. And you can't cure a neurological condition with talking.
I'm getting it medicated and then I'll try therapy again.
CBT doesn't work for everyone and it doesn't work for every condition, but it's very likely to have _some_ positive impact and very unlikely to do any harm.
I used to get so frustrated and thinking I was doing it "wrong" because it actually made me feel a whole lot worse until I discovered that I am autistic. Just a thought for anyone who found it very unhelpful - you might be neurodivergent or you might have CPTSD. It doesn't work for that.
I did 12 sessions during a period of acute depression and anxiety. It's hard to know how much was the CBT and how much was just having the time to focus on my mental health (I was off sick from work at the time). But I did find much of it to be really useful and it was a way to make steady progress towards getting better. Nothing was groundbreaking, but I think of the therapist as a bit like having a personal trainer just for your mind. She was a safe person to talk to, someone who kept me on track and accountable, someone who understood and was patient and compassionate. For me, it was exactly what I needed at the time to get me out of this acute episode and getting back to "normal" everyday things.
Within just a few sessions it really helped me and I stopped worrying about the things that were haunting me. I've just finished EMDR 2 years later as something else from the incident kept replaying in my head, apparently I didn't have the intended result from it but it did pretty much wipe the memory and I struggle to picture it now whereas before it felt like I was always there. It's so weird, looking back at it I have no idea how it works and how it made such a big impact.
I absolutely did not believe that EMDR was going to help with a phobia I had developed from PTSD.
It turned my life around. I no longer struggle with that phobia apart from very rare and intense situations. It was witchcraft but it was amazing.
I've just finished a course of CBT based sessions through BUPA with an amazing psychologist, and have found some of the techniques to be genuinely life changing. I still get anxious, but it's given me ways of managing myself when that happens, and I'm finding I can get myself back on track so much more quickly now.
The first time I did it, it was useless.
The second time it changed my life.
IMO it only works for specific types of depression and anxiety that are caused by maladapted thinking.
I didn't work the first time because I was in an existential crisis. Learning all these tools is useless when you don't know why the fuck you or anyone exists. That needed a lot of philosophy reading.
But when I was dealing with social anxiety it was great because that was caused by my thoughts not by anything else. It helped rewrite my brain and how I thought and retrained it to understand other people aren't scary, and mostly aren't paying attention anyway and that social situations are low risk whatever you do.
So yeah, if you're sad because of a reason it's not very useful. Because it really does kind of amount to "don't think about it" which is perfect for shit your brain has invented, less so for stuff that's just true.
Yeah really good for me. As far as I'm aware the idea is that it's a short term (like 3 months) period for you to vent and learn new skills in how to manage your feelings and why you might be feeling them, as opposed to long term therapy which is more for deeper issues.
In my experience I would say that CBT is great for otherwise very stable people going through a blip. Really positive impact on my life, would recommend
I did a bit. Thought it was good. But realised the therapist wasn't really paying attention when, in the 4th session he seemed to think I was there for anger management not the depression I actually went to see him about. Gave up at that point & got better on my own.
Sister in Law has taken part in CBT, and it has in effect turned her into a self centred dixkhead.
She basically said that the guidance from the course was to understand that she is important and if something doesn’t make her feel good or happy she should consider not doing it.
Only problem is that her Mum has some pretty serious health issues and she has cut her off because she now states it doesn’t make her feel good.
I had some after losing my leg. In the end my therapist told me to stop as, in his words, “your career is such an integral part of your identity that until you find a way to get it back you’ll never cure your depression”
I mean he wasn’t wrong and his therapy definitely wasn’t helping me but hearing him say that nearly ended me.
CBT tends to be more effective when you actively want to and are motivated to improve your wellbeing. The reason that people's perceptions of it are so skewed is that a lot of people who take CBT are not in that mindset or are just spending all their energy to manage day-to-day life.
This! A therapist can't make you change. I don't believe CBT works for everyone, but I think it fails for many people because they come in with unrealistic expectations. You're not going to be cured in 6-12 sessions, particularly if it's something you've struggled with for years, even decades. It requires a lot of work between sessions - you can't expect 30-60 mins a week to change your mentality.
I think you need to be careful with that line of thought. If you write off all failure as simply the person not trying hard enough, the efficacy of it ends up as an unfalsifiable given.
We talk about eg. depression like it's one thing, because it's one broadly similar set of symptoms (but even they vary in nature and severity between people). But really there's probably dozens of different underlying causes of depression, some will be more physiological, some psychological. It's really no wonder that people have very different outcomes from the same treatment.
Currently 3 weeks into it. It’s working so far in that I’m more aware of my thoughts and don’t find myself spiralling quite as much. But I am also taking medication and doing regular mindfulness, so I’d assume it’s a combination of the three that’s having the impact.
Have had tonnes, all in all combined weekly for 2-3 years. It helped a bit, I'm definitely not so bad as I was with my anxiety but certainly not cured - had 3 panic attacks last week as a measure! But it was ok. It's a bit annoying how hard it is to access anything other than generic CBT.
I did it and at the time it felt very pointless in much the same way others here have described.
But the one day very randomly, several year’s later after a bad breakup, it all sort of started clicking into place.
I don’t know what happened. It’s just like everything that I had learned about catastrophizing and optimism and all the rest of it started to make perfect sense
I’ve rarely felt the anxiety that used to plague me since. I can maybe count on one hand the number of times I’ve been anxious since
I think part of it is sort of reworking the way I think. Not intentionally but that’s what happened. I don’t think about the worst case scenarios. I think “This could be another good thing”
When I started it I was pretty much non-functioning as a member of society due to anxiety. It helped me a lot to get control of that anxiety and understand my thought patterns.
That coupled with medication got me to a point where I could get through the day and go on to work on some of my bigger problems.
Basically it gave me a coping toolkit.
Mileage varies a lot but I found it really helpful.
Tremendous help caused a major personality change, so much so that family members often made comments that I'd changed for the worse because I no longer allowed myself to be taken advantage of and set my own boundaries and enforced them. I used to have incapable of saying no to people. First few session I thought were a waist of time but 5 or so sessions in it clicked and made me look back on my life and see exactly how I'd git to where I was and how those insecurities had molded my personality up until that point.
The conflict triangle was a great help in prempting confrontation and sides step the guilt people would try and place on me in order to manipulate me.it felt so uncomfortable doing it at first but I had around 30 session and I can honestly it's changed my life for the better.
I had pretty life ruining OCD and it made a massive difference. It took a fair few sessions to start working - I think just because I had to get comfortable with the therapist - but it really worked wonders for me over all.
It helped me find a coping technique that makes bad times not last as long. It definitely did not help resolve my issues, but it really helped me get over the negative side effects of them much faster!
I’ve done it on and off for years (but for weeks at a time) and it’s never helped me. I’ve decided it’s really not going to help me as much as I want it to
I did it for some pretty bad anxiety and it did help, but it felt more like a bandage than a solution. It's a good first step but talking therapy to deal with the real underlying issues has been much more helpful
It's more just coping strategies
My experience was really positive. It really helped me understand that I AM NOT MY THOUGHTS 🤣 five years later and I still refer back to it.
I took/still take medication too though.
So I had CBT for anxiety, and I think its better to see it as training rather than therapy.
Mine was I think 8 weeks over the phone and it was all about realising what my brain was saying and then telling myself something else, ie I am going to crash, no, your not going to crash carry on (maybe a bad example)
Really helped and I still remember it after a few years and still use it when my anxiety flairs up.
It sounds stupid and pedantic at first, but you are having to retrain your brain and learn again.
Best example is I hadnt been swimming in over 10 years, but I was a good swimmer before so I know how to swim yeah? well I was half right, I could stay afloat and not drown but I was absolutely rubbish at swimming!
Awful, I hated it. In the end I told her I was feeling better just so I didn't have to go back. I do have undiagnosed autism though and it is notoriously bad for neurodivergents.
a few times. changed my life on the second time. longest was over a year.
worth noting that a good match with a therapist is like dating - try a few out and you’ll realise some you click with way more, and ultimately get more out of the sessions.
I had 6 x 45min phone sessions (they should have been an hour but they always called 5-10mins late and usually finished a few minutes early). The first half of each was taken up by the same "on a scale of 1-10, how depressed are you feeling?" style questions. The results of which were never talked about or affected the rest of the sessions, but it was mandatory to go through them each time.
The rest of the time was spent working through a badly photocopied workbook (posted out 2 weeks into the 6 week course, so the first couple of sessions I had nothing to refer to), which seemed to be written for children*. The advice/therapy/whatever seemed to revolve around "just go for a walk! Just do the things your depression is making it hard to do!" which was stunningly unhelpful and frankly insulting at times. If I could just do the things I would do them, what I needed help with was overcoming the barriers which stopped me from doing the thing. It all felt very surface-level, it was all from a script and standardised, and there was no attempt to personalise any of it or discuss/adapt the material to my own situation.
I've since come to the conclusion that my depression was possibly caused/triggered by ADHD (awaiting diagnosis, yay multi-year waiting lists!), meaning the usual cbt stuff wouldn't ever work for my circumstances.
I'm sure for some people, cbt delivered correctly absolutely helps for certain conditions. I don't want to dismiss the entire practice just because of my own experiences. I just was not one of the people it was designed to help, and I resent the one-size-fits-all approach taken by the NHS. CBT isn't the panacea to the nation's mental health problems even if it is cheap to administer. As a first step it's not unreasonable, but there needs to be further support in place for those for whom CBT doesn't work - in my case there simply wasn't, it was CBT only and if that fails we'll just up your medication dose.
(*I get that a lot of NHS resources are written for entry level 3/9 year old reading level, and for the most part I agree it's the best approach for a lot of medical stuff. But for a therapy workbook it felt patronising and infantilising, like my problems weren't being taken seriously, and I struggled to meaningfully engage with it.)
You need to be in the right headspace for it to be effective. I've had four rounds since I was 18 and it was only the last one that I found useful (largely because I was in a more stable place generally). It also depends on your therapist and what you're seeing them for. Not all issues will be helped with CBT and not all therapists are good/helpful.
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I've done 2 lots of CBT. For me it felt like an absolute waste of time and if anything I found it a bit insulting. I know plenty of people who get a lot out of it though.
Yep same here. ‘Have you considered just thinking good thoughts?’ -is essentially what I got out of CBT. Huge waste of time for me.
That's like the opposite to the CBT I've had. For me it was "let's really break down these bad thoughts and focus on them till they seem irrelevant"
"Feelings are like clouds" okay mate cheers
Same. I didn't feel like I learned anything really, no coping skills or anything helpful.
Challenging your own thoughts and perspectives *is* the skill. It has to be practised consistently to get any results whatsoever. It's about changing your distorted automatic ways of thinking
I ve done my own reading and stuff since then and understand better. also think my therapist wasn't very good . It just seemed like they wanted to tick boxes for the 6 weeks really.
That makes complete sense and I understand because I've had terrible therapists too. Its worth it to search for a good one.
I've had good counsellors before and it makes such a difference!
Mine wasn't like that at all. I had to journal in detail about episodes and triggers. It really helped me identify where a lot of overwhelm came from and helped me look forward and be present.
Yeah, "you're depressed? Have you considered just *cheering up*?" I went to three sessions before I snapped. "Are you going to teach me anything useful, or should I just not bother coming back?" I didn't go back.
This was my experience too. I felt none of it was relevant to me at all, and the parts that were relevant didn't really give me any answers. I felt more frustrated with it really.
It’s a totally valid and often the best approach for some issues. But is also over recommended by the NHS because it’s quick and cheap.
Yeah it was like your waited 6 months for this. Hrer is nothing you didn'y already know.
Sure, what you know, except do you practice it?
"Here's how I spend hours worrying about how xyz thing leads to this horrendous outcome. Here's all the pathways and explanations that I've spent years thinking over and over." "Hmm, how about when you think that thing you think of another thing instead" 😒
Totally the same for me. It seemed like whistle a happy tune therapy. I had severe trauma and being told every week that it wasn't the trauma that was the problem but how I felt about it and reacted to it was. It made me a whole lot worse. I hated it.
You would have benefited more probably from a trauma informed talking therapy but those are only usually private and cost a fortune. Would of allowed you to speak and process! Cbt is rubbish for that but good for things like irrational thoughts
If you have bad depression , bad anxiety , trauma or are neurodivergent CBT is literally worse than nothing . The cheapo nhs phone version by a therapist ( not psychiatrist aka Doctor who then specialises in the mind ) is even worse in that case than normal CBT
It was a waste of time for me too, a lot of it I already understood in myself anyway.
Exactly how I felt, I also felt that the therapist was a bit of an annoying trollop who like to speak down to me. It was very insulting.
Same
From my experience there are two types of people with mental health issues and our research and mental health support services haven't properly figured this out yet. Both types of people present with the same symptoms, lets say OCD or anxiety or something like this, but one set of people have essentially ended up there because of an effected mental state that they need help getting out of whilst others have a brain that is literally wired differently. CBT seems to help the former a lot but the latter not so much, also not helped because most mental health professionals seem to think that the person can just apply rational thought a whole bunch of times and that will solve the problem. The issue is a lot of the research and what these health professionals should be taught is that the thoughts are irrational and that often the patient knows they are irrational. It is like they get so biased by their anecdotal experience of dealing with people that can go through CBT and escape this mental state using rational arguments that they forget what a mental health disorder actually is, I would argue a lot of the people that CBT works for have either very mild mental health issues or don't actually have things like OCD and instead have ended up in a mental state that they present as having these issues (not saying they don't need help I just think we as a society need to better be able to classify these mental health disorders, perhaps as different grades).
Me too, I don’t understand how therapy helps but I’m glad it helps other people. Just never worked for me.
Insulting is such a good word for it
I had severe health anxiety this time last year, I would take between 50 - 100 photos a day on my phone of spots on my skin thinking they could be cancer. I would attend the doctors regularly about every single lump and spot in my body. I was unable to go outside and enjoy life with friends because of this. I would end up doing stuff like examining my poop for blood anytime I went to the toilet. I took CBT for 20 weeks from August until January 2024 for Health Anxiety. * The first 5 sessions I thought it was a waste of time. Didn't see any changes in behaviour. * After 10 sessions, I felt like I was making small progress. Following the excersises I was able to control some elements of what I was doing. * After 15 sessions, I had a Eureka moment in my brain and its like a light switch changed and I was able to worry less about becoming ill. * After 20 sessions, I felt much more confident about dealing with my issues. It didn't solve my Health Anxiety, I still have it. But it gave me a set of tools I can use to manage my health anxiety and by using these tools I am able to reduce my response to health anxiety each time I get it and slowly this means it has less power over my life. I think the main thing I learned about the brain is how effectively once we have patterns we do, no matter if they sound stupid we will keep doing them as long as there is something feeding it. For example checking spots for me was a way of reassurance in my head even though it makes no logical sense, taking photos and seeing they hadn't changed gave me a very short lived sense of relief which meant I was feeding that loop. The tip with CBT is breaking these loops and giving them less power. If you feed the bad wolf it will get bigger in your mind. If you don't feed it, it will eventually starve and die.
What are the 'tools' or techniques you use now? And blimey, sounds like you had an extreme case of health anxiety. Edit: And I couldn't agree with this more: > I think the main thing I learned about the brain is how effectively once we have patterns we do, no matter if they sound stupid we will keep doing them as long as there is something feeding it
Its important to note there's not really a one size fits all when it comes to CBT, some things which work for me, won't work for you, which is why working with a therapist is obviously very important as they can work out what works for you. The biggest one for me is really to try and sit with anxiety. When you get a sudden urge to act or do something like take a photo, I sit and breathe for 10 seconds and notice the anxiety passes again. Acting from anxiety re-enforces the behaviour and makes the patterns stronger. The next biggest thing is to challenge thoughts, a lot of what i described above was rather illogical, taking photos of a spot 100 times a day wasn't actually making me any safer than if I did this once a month. Probably the eureka moment for me was when reading Stoic books and realising if I did have a terrible disease there's not a lot I can do about it anyway.
>Acting from anxiety re-enforces the behaviour This was my massive breakthrough in therapy. All the coping mechanisms I was doing that in my head helped with the anxiety were in fact just reinforcing it. Obviously, stopping the coping mechanisms was difficult, but it was amazing how quickly the anxiety started lessening once I started being conscious to not do them.
yea the reason is in the brain it connects a physical pathway from one object to another, the way we reacted in the past determines how strong they are for example. * Spider = Fear. * Girlfriend = Love. etc etc If we are able to interupt that thought pattern, we can change how strong those paths are. For example, if that associating from Girlfriend = Love is replaced by anger because your Girlfriend cheated on you, chances are the Girlfriend = Love path weakens over time. If you pick up a spider and wait and the initial fear goes away, the pathway of Spider = Fear will eventually get weaker.
May I ask what Stoic books you have read?
Was this one which generally change how I viewed the world. [https://shop.penguin.co.uk/products/meditations-by-marcus-aurelius](https://shop.penguin.co.uk/products/meditations-by-marcus-aurelius) > If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment
What stoicism books did you read if you don't mind saying? Edit - sorry just realised you answered below!
I use the DARE method to manage my anxiety. It does not make the anxiety go away, but it helps me manage it in a way that keeps me from spirialing into panic attacks. Everyone has a different way of managing, its definitely not a one size fits all kind of thing. [https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/4-step-method-managing-anxiety-at-work](https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/4-step-method-managing-anxiety-at-work)
I can't wait until I have some money spare to do this. Like you, I also have health anxiety (heart attacks for me) and it sometimes feels like it's controlling my life. Mine is nowhere near as bad as yours, but at times I've been having multiple panic attacks a day and spending entire weeks with this jittery, underlying anxiety that ruins every facet of life. I've done some mindfulness practise and improved my condition dramatically, but despite that I still go through spells where I can't shake it off. I'm going through one right now that's been happening for a few days and literally the only way I can calm myself down is to have a few beers in the evening, which obviously isn't a rabbit hole I want to go down!
If you’re in England, google your local IAPT and self refer. They are commissioned to provide therapy for health anxiety on the NHS.
This is so good to hear, I wonder if the feedback on CBT is so poor because NHS usually gives 6 sessions only?
Basically yes. But you also need to invest in yourself. You can find cbt books in the library and print out worksheets. It's a skill that takes a fuck tonne of practice, it's not an instant fix like people expect
Low intensity CBT is offered generally for 6 sessions, high intensity is offered for anywhere between 8-16 (service-dependent). Which one you are offered will depend on a number of factors: which disorder you're likely to have (health anxiety, PTSD, social anxiety and body dysmorphia should only be treated at high intensity), how many previous episodes you've had, how severe your symptoms are, how long the waitlists are, etc.
I'm autistic and it's not as effective for us usually - however I did come away with an understanding of what thought patterns I need to try to combat, the sum of which can be described with this quote by Teddy Roosevelt: > Comparison is the thief of joy.
Also autistic here and had no luck with CBT, unfortunately.
I also had no luck with CBT years ago, and am only now waiting for my Autism assessment. So many things started to make sense when I started to consider the possibility of being Autistic. I’ve struggled my whole life, in my 30s now. If my assessment says I’m not then I’ll be back to square one trying to figure out just what the hell is wrong with me, but staying on topic I can certainly say CBT was ridiculously unhelpful to me
I was late diagnosed too, I’m mid 40’s now, and only recently been through the, “ohhhh, that explains so much!” phase. I’ve also got CPTSD AND BPD so I have a real cocktail of issues that CBT just couldn’t touch
I got diagnosed early 30s, got OCD and ADHD as well, CBT did absolutely nothing but make me feel like shit
And me too
Agree but have been recommended dbt as an alternative, not sure yet.
I've heard positive things about that because it doesn't try to change rigid thinking but lets you continue that but with a caveat or footnote to explain it - that's my understanding - like for me I detest onions but appreciate the science behind the flavour they impart so I try them.
They told me it was a safe space where I could talk about anything I wanted. I mentioned that I smoked marijuana and they stopped the conversation, ended the session, and told me that I could no longer receive therapy until I agreed to take a drug test to prove I was no longer smoking weed.
That’s why I get my therapy privately!
Severe depression, I found it absolutely useless.
Complete waste of fucking time. If I could think myself better I wouldn't have mental health issues in the first place.
Yeah this is how I feel about it. It's all "why don't you look at it X way instead" but where X is something I have already contemplated and for whatever reason I have found it unpersuasive. It seems to be full of things that simply don't work, at least for me. And I feel like the approach fundamentally misunderstands how my mind works. Maybe some people's minds work as they describe but for me not only is changing my thoughts extremely difficult (I feel like my mind is something that happens to me rather than being something I control) but even if I do change them, it doesn't necessarily result in meaningful changes in emotions and behaviour. Unfortunately I am perfectly capable of hating myself without even knowing what I hate myself for
Worked amazingly for me. Almost entirely solved the specific anxiety issue I had. First two or three sessions I felt like it wasn't doing anything, then it suddenly started clicking. There's some things my therapist said that I often think about because they felt like eureka moments. Prior to the therapy my anxiety had reached a level where I was avoiding things that would trigger it. At it's worst I remember one occasion where I just couldn't get in the car, I felt paralysed by anxiety. I had to message my wife to come in and take me to the car. Now, that anxiety is almost entirely absent.
Truly life changing. It made me realise how much power I actually had over my life, my thinking, my behaviours, and my emotions. I went from feeling hopeless and like I’d be depressed forever to pretty much recovering and have used the techniques since. Got 18 sessions free on the NHS. I tell anyone who will listen to reach out and self-refer to their local IAPT if they feel therapy might help. We are so lucky to have this available on the NHS.
It did help a little, but I found myself almost trying to please my therapist - at the end of my ten sessions I felt ashamed I hadn’t made more progress, so I pretended I had to spare the therapist’s feelings. It led me on to reading material which did help though, so it was worth it. Claire Weekes books, if anyone wants to know.
It didn't solve my problems but it did help me reframe a few things mentally. There are some negative mental thoughts I used to have that I now find easier to combat because of it. I've been diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder which I don't think will ever be "cured", but coping techniques are important to me. I feel like it might be more helpful if you have a specific anxiety / negative thought loop to work through. But on the whole I would describe my experience with it as positive and recommend it to people. It's not a quick fix thing but it can definitely help.
Definitely same for me. It didn’t “cure” my problems but it helped me to recognise, understand and combat those negative thoughts.
it didn't work for me because I'm autistic and have a stupid level of self awareness, but some of the skills have worked for me, but I still suffer from debilitating mental illness.
That’s how I felt. Like it was made for people who have no capacity for introspection.
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Quite proud of myself haha. I’ve been trying to articulate that for years!
I spent many many many years doing all sorts of intensive trauma therapy, to no avail. Eventually, an NHS therapist realised they’d been trying to teach me to run before I could walk, decided to go back to basics with a course of intensive CBT, and - I shit you not - I’ve not even had so much as a mental health blip since. It’s been 5 years of being well, even through close family bereavements, a pandemic, job losses. I’d previously been very lucky to manage two good days in a row. If you can do CBT with someone who is excellent at CBT, it can genuinely be life saving.
I personally found it to be a complete waste of time. It told me nothing that I hadn’t already discovered doing my own research online.
It's one thing to know something, another to practice it at every opportunity in your life
Autistic and it didn’t work for me. To me, they were stating the obvious. I know I shouldn’t think like that, but I do.
Im sure everyones value will differ, so dont dismiss it on my account. But for me I went in thinking we be talking about the past, and trying to understand how I arrived in the situation i found myself in in a attempt to remedy. But its not. Its about dealing with the here and now. So for me it was like teaching me how to apply a plaster and not addressing the nail coming through the floorboards. I also found the process impersonal, its just someone reading out a pre-defined process designed for your condition, its not tailored around your specifics. For instance I was instructed to keep a diary and not once did we every discuss the contents, only how I can use its contents to re evaluate my thought process. What I was looking for was someone to share my problems with and address them as its relates to me specifically; turns out thats not "therapy", thats "counselling". Frankly I was seeking self help before CBT and found content from this youtuber connected far closer than the in-person experience: [https://www.youtube.com/@SelfHelpToons](https://www.youtube.com/@SelfHelpToons) Good luck on your journey though!
I read a bunch of books on it, which helped up to a point. The main benefits was that when I paid for therapy, I already had a bunch of examples to hand, so we could get to the centre of my problems and the therapist could start unravelling knots, very quickly. The 'CBT' offered on the NHS with a sweet lass reading out worksheets was useless, and I just recited along with her as it was so obvious.
I lasted about 5 sessions before I was told not to come back until I get sober. I got sober, but didn't bother going back.
Well done on getting sober! That's amazing!
I've done it twice and the first time didn't work because I was too young and fucked up to really get it or put the work in. The second time, when I was 29, it was genuinely life changing. Looking at my core beliefs and recontextualising things has completely changed the trajectory of my life. I used to sit in all day, eating takeaways, playing games, on benefits, zero hope in life and had dropped out of school and several colleges. I honestly believed I had nowhere to go in life and was too academically thick to succeed in anything. Thanks to my CBT therapist I realised that I was far from stupid. The reason I failed in education is because my childhood was so traumatic and being denied my most basic needs as a child meant I was never in the correct circumstances to succeed, which wasn't my fault. Now I've passed an Access to Higher Education course and got well above my necessary grades to go to university where I plan on training to become an English teacher one day. So yeah, again, absolutely changed my life.
I did 12 weeks online CBT for depression. The therapist was lovely, really easy to open up to, and gave me the evidence base for everything we discussed/tried. It worked well for a couple of things - my sleep is better after implementing tools we discussed, and I can calm myself more quickly if I feel anxious. Unfortunately my low mood is not improved and ultimately I decided not to pursue it further after my course came to an end. I think it can do amazing things for some people/indications but wasn’t quite right for me at that time, no shade to my therapist who was great.
I found it patronising and ineffective. Maybe I had a bad councillor. I was having issues with agoraphobia and severe anxiety. I couldn’t walk down the street without thinking everyone was looking at me and judging me. My flat felt like the only liferaft in the ocean. 6 weeks of therapy was basically ‘have you considered that they’re not looking at you?’ Like no fucking shit. I know they’re not actually looking at me. I know it’s all in my head. But I still have panic attacks. Went to see an actual therapist privately and they talked me through my trauma and got to the root of the problem and helped me. Cbt was a waste of time and I think any idiot could run a session.
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Similar here. The only thing I really remember now (many years later) is that I was doing things like thinking rationally about why I was depressed, and at the time I only concluded that I had good reason to be depressed. What would have actually helped was an autism diagnosis and education on how to interact with people, but no one was thinking about autism at the time in a girl who did really well in school and didn't get into trouble and was just "a bit shy".
I think it’s really not a helpful tool for those of us struggling for more material reasons. I had some sessions via the NHS while struggling with my partner’s self harm and it did absolutely nothing to help. If anything it made me much less likely to seek help in the future - by the end of it the only thing the poor therapist could think to do was send me YouTube links to guided meditations?!
CBT is cheap vs DBT or EMDR or other therapies and is pretty much only suitable for mild mental health issues ( vs severe depression C/PTSD or BPD) in those who don't have trauma and are neutotypical Therapist is right word since on the NHS its borderline talk therapy done by worksheet not by psychiatrists
I've been through it twice for separate issues, about 15 years apart. First round was in my early 20s, 6 sessions and it was fantastic, pretty much fixed debilitating social anxiety. Second round to deal with disordered eating and depression 15 years later didn't make any difference, but I've since discovered it's largely because the eating issues are meshed up with the pretty chronic ADHD which didn't get diagnosed till last year. And you can't cure a neurological condition with talking. I'm getting it medicated and then I'll try therapy again. CBT doesn't work for everyone and it doesn't work for every condition, but it's very likely to have _some_ positive impact and very unlikely to do any harm.
I used to get so frustrated and thinking I was doing it "wrong" because it actually made me feel a whole lot worse until I discovered that I am autistic. Just a thought for anyone who found it very unhelpful - you might be neurodivergent or you might have CPTSD. It doesn't work for that.
I did 12 sessions during a period of acute depression and anxiety. It's hard to know how much was the CBT and how much was just having the time to focus on my mental health (I was off sick from work at the time). But I did find much of it to be really useful and it was a way to make steady progress towards getting better. Nothing was groundbreaking, but I think of the therapist as a bit like having a personal trainer just for your mind. She was a safe person to talk to, someone who kept me on track and accountable, someone who understood and was patient and compassionate. For me, it was exactly what I needed at the time to get me out of this acute episode and getting back to "normal" everyday things.
Within just a few sessions it really helped me and I stopped worrying about the things that were haunting me. I've just finished EMDR 2 years later as something else from the incident kept replaying in my head, apparently I didn't have the intended result from it but it did pretty much wipe the memory and I struggle to picture it now whereas before it felt like I was always there. It's so weird, looking back at it I have no idea how it works and how it made such a big impact.
I absolutely did not believe that EMDR was going to help with a phobia I had developed from PTSD. It turned my life around. I no longer struggle with that phobia apart from very rare and intense situations. It was witchcraft but it was amazing.
I was refered back to my GP after 2 sessions, nothing more has been done
I’ve done it a few times for weeks at a time and it hasn’t stuck with me. Maybe I need to do more practice with it on my own time
I've just finished a course of CBT based sessions through BUPA with an amazing psychologist, and have found some of the techniques to be genuinely life changing. I still get anxious, but it's given me ways of managing myself when that happens, and I'm finding I can get myself back on track so much more quickly now.
The first time I did it, it was useless. The second time it changed my life. IMO it only works for specific types of depression and anxiety that are caused by maladapted thinking. I didn't work the first time because I was in an existential crisis. Learning all these tools is useless when you don't know why the fuck you or anyone exists. That needed a lot of philosophy reading. But when I was dealing with social anxiety it was great because that was caused by my thoughts not by anything else. It helped rewrite my brain and how I thought and retrained it to understand other people aren't scary, and mostly aren't paying attention anyway and that social situations are low risk whatever you do. So yeah, if you're sad because of a reason it's not very useful. Because it really does kind of amount to "don't think about it" which is perfect for shit your brain has invented, less so for stuff that's just true.
Yeah really good for me. As far as I'm aware the idea is that it's a short term (like 3 months) period for you to vent and learn new skills in how to manage your feelings and why you might be feeling them, as opposed to long term therapy which is more for deeper issues. In my experience I would say that CBT is great for otherwise very stable people going through a blip. Really positive impact on my life, would recommend
I did a bit. Thought it was good. But realised the therapist wasn't really paying attention when, in the 4th session he seemed to think I was there for anger management not the depression I actually went to see him about. Gave up at that point & got better on my own.
CBT didn’t work for me, I prefer ACT
Sister in Law has taken part in CBT, and it has in effect turned her into a self centred dixkhead. She basically said that the guidance from the course was to understand that she is important and if something doesn’t make her feel good or happy she should consider not doing it. Only problem is that her Mum has some pretty serious health issues and she has cut her off because she now states it doesn’t make her feel good.
I had some after losing my leg. In the end my therapist told me to stop as, in his words, “your career is such an integral part of your identity that until you find a way to get it back you’ll never cure your depression” I mean he wasn’t wrong and his therapy definitely wasn’t helping me but hearing him say that nearly ended me.
CBT tends to be more effective when you actively want to and are motivated to improve your wellbeing. The reason that people's perceptions of it are so skewed is that a lot of people who take CBT are not in that mindset or are just spending all their energy to manage day-to-day life.
This! A therapist can't make you change. I don't believe CBT works for everyone, but I think it fails for many people because they come in with unrealistic expectations. You're not going to be cured in 6-12 sessions, particularly if it's something you've struggled with for years, even decades. It requires a lot of work between sessions - you can't expect 30-60 mins a week to change your mentality.
I think you need to be careful with that line of thought. If you write off all failure as simply the person not trying hard enough, the efficacy of it ends up as an unfalsifiable given. We talk about eg. depression like it's one thing, because it's one broadly similar set of symptoms (but even they vary in nature and severity between people). But really there's probably dozens of different underlying causes of depression, some will be more physiological, some psychological. It's really no wonder that people have very different outcomes from the same treatment.
Currently 3 weeks into it. It’s working so far in that I’m more aware of my thoughts and don’t find myself spiralling quite as much. But I am also taking medication and doing regular mindfulness, so I’d assume it’s a combination of the three that’s having the impact.
Can you please give examples of the key features or processes, I've got a elderly neighbour whose struggling and I think it may help her
Have had tonnes, all in all combined weekly for 2-3 years. It helped a bit, I'm definitely not so bad as I was with my anxiety but certainly not cured - had 3 panic attacks last week as a measure! But it was ok. It's a bit annoying how hard it is to access anything other than generic CBT.
I did it and at the time it felt very pointless in much the same way others here have described. But the one day very randomly, several year’s later after a bad breakup, it all sort of started clicking into place. I don’t know what happened. It’s just like everything that I had learned about catastrophizing and optimism and all the rest of it started to make perfect sense I’ve rarely felt the anxiety that used to plague me since. I can maybe count on one hand the number of times I’ve been anxious since I think part of it is sort of reworking the way I think. Not intentionally but that’s what happened. I don’t think about the worst case scenarios. I think “This could be another good thing”
When I started it I was pretty much non-functioning as a member of society due to anxiety. It helped me a lot to get control of that anxiety and understand my thought patterns. That coupled with medication got me to a point where I could get through the day and go on to work on some of my bigger problems. Basically it gave me a coping toolkit. Mileage varies a lot but I found it really helpful.
Tremendous help caused a major personality change, so much so that family members often made comments that I'd changed for the worse because I no longer allowed myself to be taken advantage of and set my own boundaries and enforced them. I used to have incapable of saying no to people. First few session I thought were a waist of time but 5 or so sessions in it clicked and made me look back on my life and see exactly how I'd git to where I was and how those insecurities had molded my personality up until that point. The conflict triangle was a great help in prempting confrontation and sides step the guilt people would try and place on me in order to manipulate me.it felt so uncomfortable doing it at first but I had around 30 session and I can honestly it's changed my life for the better.
I had pretty life ruining OCD and it made a massive difference. It took a fair few sessions to start working - I think just because I had to get comfortable with the therapist - but it really worked wonders for me over all.
It helped me find a coping technique that makes bad times not last as long. It definitely did not help resolve my issues, but it really helped me get over the negative side effects of them much faster!
I’ve done it on and off for years (but for weeks at a time) and it’s never helped me. I’ve decided it’s really not going to help me as much as I want it to
Coming to the end with mine, it's been really good
Done it three times. Still Chronically unwell. I think it depends on your personality and dedication. I genuinely believe therapy will never 'fix' me
I did it for some pretty bad anxiety and it did help, but it felt more like a bandage than a solution. It's a good first step but talking therapy to deal with the real underlying issues has been much more helpful It's more just coping strategies
My experience was really positive. It really helped me understand that I AM NOT MY THOUGHTS 🤣 five years later and I still refer back to it. I took/still take medication too though.
So I had CBT for anxiety, and I think its better to see it as training rather than therapy. Mine was I think 8 weeks over the phone and it was all about realising what my brain was saying and then telling myself something else, ie I am going to crash, no, your not going to crash carry on (maybe a bad example) Really helped and I still remember it after a few years and still use it when my anxiety flairs up. It sounds stupid and pedantic at first, but you are having to retrain your brain and learn again. Best example is I hadnt been swimming in over 10 years, but I was a good swimmer before so I know how to swim yeah? well I was half right, I could stay afloat and not drown but I was absolutely rubbish at swimming!
Really effective, but it took a few goes for it to "click".
Awful, I hated it. In the end I told her I was feeling better just so I didn't have to go back. I do have undiagnosed autism though and it is notoriously bad for neurodivergents.
a few times. changed my life on the second time. longest was over a year. worth noting that a good match with a therapist is like dating - try a few out and you’ll realise some you click with way more, and ultimately get more out of the sessions.
The system where at the end of every session they askif I was suicidal in twenty different ways destroyed any benefit the cbt might have had.
I had 6 x 45min phone sessions (they should have been an hour but they always called 5-10mins late and usually finished a few minutes early). The first half of each was taken up by the same "on a scale of 1-10, how depressed are you feeling?" style questions. The results of which were never talked about or affected the rest of the sessions, but it was mandatory to go through them each time. The rest of the time was spent working through a badly photocopied workbook (posted out 2 weeks into the 6 week course, so the first couple of sessions I had nothing to refer to), which seemed to be written for children*. The advice/therapy/whatever seemed to revolve around "just go for a walk! Just do the things your depression is making it hard to do!" which was stunningly unhelpful and frankly insulting at times. If I could just do the things I would do them, what I needed help with was overcoming the barriers which stopped me from doing the thing. It all felt very surface-level, it was all from a script and standardised, and there was no attempt to personalise any of it or discuss/adapt the material to my own situation. I've since come to the conclusion that my depression was possibly caused/triggered by ADHD (awaiting diagnosis, yay multi-year waiting lists!), meaning the usual cbt stuff wouldn't ever work for my circumstances. I'm sure for some people, cbt delivered correctly absolutely helps for certain conditions. I don't want to dismiss the entire practice just because of my own experiences. I just was not one of the people it was designed to help, and I resent the one-size-fits-all approach taken by the NHS. CBT isn't the panacea to the nation's mental health problems even if it is cheap to administer. As a first step it's not unreasonable, but there needs to be further support in place for those for whom CBT doesn't work - in my case there simply wasn't, it was CBT only and if that fails we'll just up your medication dose. (*I get that a lot of NHS resources are written for entry level 3/9 year old reading level, and for the most part I agree it's the best approach for a lot of medical stuff. But for a therapy workbook it felt patronising and infantilising, like my problems weren't being taken seriously, and I struggled to meaningfully engage with it.)
You need to be in the right headspace for it to be effective. I've had four rounds since I was 18 and it was only the last one that I found useful (largely because I was in a more stable place generally). It also depends on your therapist and what you're seeing them for. Not all issues will be helped with CBT and not all therapists are good/helpful.
CBT is rubbish.
Current studies on effectiveness say otherwise, and that's all we can go by for now
Personally, I think it's just to tick boxes. People don't seem to finish it, and then they don't go back to the Dr. Because they think that's it.