Posted by SLS on July 11, 2016, at 15:40:49
In reply to Re: CBT anyone? » SLS, posted by Tabitha on July 10, 2016, at 13:38:23
> > Is CBT effective for anything?
> >
> > All comments welcome.
> Did you say you've used CBT? How did it go? Are you considering trying again?I began taking advantage of my cursory knowledge of behaviorism (classical conditioning and operant learning) to help me unravel my severely involuted mind. I began this approach in 1982 when I first learned that I had a biological mood disorder that was seemingly resistant to other forms of psychotherapy. I had enormous success with this. Interestingly, I never knew that there was such thing as CBT - which I later discovered emerged in the 1960s.
I believe in learning the psychological techniques and schematic diagram of how CBT works. I really don't believe in carrying a notebook around with you. I found that if you know what cognitive distortions you are contending with, you can then learn how to recognize them, and do your own reality testing to find a suitable replacement for the counterproductive thought. It helps to describe your experiences with a therapist so that you can be helped to reality-test specific distortions and replace them with positive messages.
I do believe in the model:
Automatic thoughts -> Intermediate beliefs -> Core beliefs
It has worked for me. However, I received benefits from IPT that CBT did not provide and vice-versa. I consider CBT to be a good add-on to IPT. I don't know about psychoanalysis or psychodynamic therapy.
CBT and IPT helped to improve the way my mind worked, but did nothing to improve my depressive disorder (bipolar depression). I am surprised that so many randomized controlled trials of CBT monotherapy in depression yield positive results. Perhaps their subject selection included people with mild-to-moderate depressed mood. I'm not sure that all of these people have Major Depressive Disorder. That's one of my pet peeves regarding clinical studies of depressive illness. I can, however, see how using CBT as an add-on to drug therapy can yield better results than drug therapy alone.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1090316
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20150512/msgs/1090396.html