Cbt And Mirtazapine

[abee.abee1991]

So I had my Pdoc appointment a couple of days ago and he said he is thinking about referring me to Group CBT. Can some one explain Group CBT to me please? I have read about it on the internet but my mind cant figure it out :S (My head is all over the place) He is on about referring me after my CRUSE councelling starts, which the waiting list is about a month.

He also said he wants to put me on another anti depressant as well as the one I am already taking as the one I am taking (Lofepramine 210mg) as it has slightly worked and when I say slightly I mean I have had a couple of good days in about 4 months on the highest dose, he mentioned mirtazapine. Is there anybody taking this Anti d, can you explain about it for me? But yea I might not be allowed on that one yet, he has to email the Professor in Mental Health Oxfordshire to ask what anti d will mix with Lofep.

Thanks

Abi

[Lily-Bee]

Hi

Will try to answer your questions;

CBT stands for cognitive behavioural therapy. They try to work on replacing irrational thoughts with rational ones and that in turn will have a positive effect on your behaviours.

For instance;youre walking down the street and someone looks at you funny.

You might think;oh my god theyre looking funny because Im ugly!

With CBT you would investigate that thought,learn to recognise faulty assumptions. For instance if this person had big glasses,she might have been simply looking that way because she has bad eyes.

Thats a simple example. CBT in a group is doing it together with other patients,helping each other.

Mirtazapine is a so called tetracyclic anti depressant,it starts working after 1 to 4 weeks. Its has an effect on chemicals in your brain that regulate moods and emotions. 6 out of 10 people using it benefit from it.

Hope this helps.

Lilly

[abee.abee1991]

Thank you Lilly

[hummm_mabbe]

Hi there

CBT goes a bit deeper tan that, but that is a kind of birds eye view of part of the process. The key part of CBT is learning to do things differently, and testing out the 'emotional truths' that run out of sight and tend to influence how our interactions with others go, and how our thoughts, beliefs, behaviours and feelings all inter-relate. If you are just challenging thoughts, then you are doing Cognitive Therapy. I think they prefer to use the term 'maladaptive' thoughts now, as so many people found the word "irrational" invalidating. CBT got more fluffy when they added mindfulness to it recently, but it still retains the hefty behavioural portion.

This means that you will be asked, eventually, to do things that may scare you, or make you uncofmrtable - but the idea is that by working on thoughts first, and by having the support of the group, it becomes easier to implement and try out these new behaviours.

'Doing' really is the core of the therapy - by taking actions you would normally avoid, or by changing an action that might usually lead to a painful outcome, hopefully you are opened up to new emotional information that you might otherwise have missed.

At first you may be asked to fill in forms, and monitor feelings, thoughts and so on. That can feel a bit impersonal as well as bringing up all sorts of feelings about the process. Its important to voice those concerns - don;t just follow along and do whats expected to please your therapist - remember this is about you and your feelings.

Ross

[hummm_mabbe]

Oh and I am taking a teeny dose of mirtazapine - 15mg. I have got no side effects at all, I really only wanted it to try to take the edge off the intensity of the emotions I feel. As therapy requires you to actually learn to face and 'be with' feelings, and cannot work if you are completely insulated from them, I wanted to be on a small enough dose to make the feelings manageable without numbing everything off. I have had an experiecne of recovery before which rapidly relapsed once I came off the meds - because I had never really learned that its possible to deal with feelings as when I had CBT, I wasnt actually FEELING them. 300mg of effexor saw to that ....

The mirtazapine seems to help my sleep, and makes my bodily sensations a little more bearable. I would imagine a higher dose would be quite pleasant, btu as I said I want to avoid that unless totally necessary.

Ross

[abee.abee1991]

thanks ross x