My CBT Therapist was excellent treating my depression and anxiety
My experience with CBT – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
When I first decided to try CBT – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, depression and anxiety were both severe, and I constantly felt stressed and incapable of doing my job as a writer. There was often a sense of dread, and for two months I’d struggled to leave the house alone. My issues had been affecting me for a long time, and I’d had CBT Therapy before in a group, but I think Kerry’s approach was really effective for me: practical and rational and evidence-based. It made a big difference to me that she explained every intervention in detail, so I could see how and why it would be helpful.
I’m much more level now than I was when I started: I’m not having panic attacks and haven’t had one for a long time. I’m also much better at managing my work/worries so that I spend more time on doing things that are relaxing and enjoyable rather than staring at a computer screen and mentally beating myself up for not doing enough work. I do still have some ‘downs’, but they are usually shorter as I think I am much more able to work my way out of them rationally rather than spiralling.
I work less now than I used to, but this is out of choice rather than simply because I feel like I can’t or that I’m not good enough. The next step is to pick up a bit more work, but in a sensible and controlled way, but I think I’m on target to do that in a couple of months, and I know to take it slowly.
How I manage now thanks to my CBT Therapist
I think the simplest thing seems to have been working the best: making sure I intersperse my work with pleasurable things and leaving my desk if work just isn’t happening. I work in shorter bursts but with a bit more focus, because I can put aside the worry that ‘I won’t be able to do this’ and simply try, see if I can and if I can’t then I can leave and return to it later. We tried a range of different things, and I have lots of notes to keep which I’ve looked over in the last few months a few times when I’ve needed a refresher, so that’s incredibly helpful too. The boring answer is that I’m just feeling a lot better and more able to cope with the world!
My issues had been affecting me for a long time, and I’d had CBT Therapy before in a group, but I think Kerry’s approach was really effective for me: practical and rational and evidence-based. It made a big difference to me that she explained every intervention in detail, so I could see how and why it would be helpful.
I’m much more level now than I was when I started CBT Therapy: I’m not having panic attacks and haven’t had one for a long time. I’m also much better at managing my work/worries so that I spend more time on doing things that are relaxing and enjoyable rather than staring at a computer screen and mentally beating myself up for not doing enough work. I do still have some ‘downs’, but they are usually shorter as I think I am much more able to work my way out of them rationally rather than spiralling.
I work less now than I used to, but this is out of choice rather than simply because I feel like I can’t or that I’m not good enough. The next step is to pick up a bit more work, but in a sensible and controlled way, but I think I’m on target to do that in a couple of months, and I know to take it slowly.
I think the simplest thing seems to have been working the best: making sure I intersperse my work with pleasurable things and leaving my desk if work just isn’t happening. I work in shorter bursts but with a bit more focus, because I can put aside the worry that ‘I won’t be able to do this’ and simply try, see if I can and if I can’t then I can leave and return to it later. We tried a range of different things, and I have lots of notes to keep which I’ve looked over in the last few months a few times when I’ve needed a refresher, so that’s incredibly helpful too. The boring answer is that I’m just feeling a lot better and more able to cope with the world!