pippab Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 Hi, i will be starting CBT therapy soon... mainly for agoraphobia but i wonder what they do and want totalk about and how they 'fix' you... do they just try and get you out or do they find out why your agoraphobic and start from there? for me things started/went bad when... this time last year had a bad few months... brother was in afgansitan.. a woman turned up on facebook saying she was my sister (but i couldnt tell the rest of my family including my mum).. work was just awful and most days were spent in tears... my step dad (who i class and call my dad) is really ill and on oxygen 24 hours a day.... my real dad then decides to find me (im 32) despite living in the same same town and knowing who i am..(great timing..lol)...... money issues and all the rest that goes with that.... i had a few panic attacks november/december although wasnt really sure why they started... just after christmas i when i have a big attack and ended up being taken to hospital in an ambulance. my doctor signed me off sick for 2weeks and put me on beta blockers and i thought i was fine but on the morning i started walking to work i had another massive attack and ran back home and stayed there in bed since... from march time onwards i was put onto different antidepressants but they all sent me loco and as high as a kite summer was a bad few months and our house was repossed and we are now living with my parents... i dont feel as depressed/down as i did but the panic attacks happen everytime i leave the house (sometimes even when im sleeping) so i saw a therapist and her and my doctor said i now have agorapobia and depression (depression lifting though) so i am waiting for the CBT..... i am just worried about what they are going to do? or make me do? i cant help but feel a bit piffed at them already as if i'd been helped to deal with the panic attacks in the first place i would never of been scared to get out of the house... i wouldnt of got depressed and now bloomin too scared to walk to the shop which is only about 20 houses away! sorry its soooooooooooooo long! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hummm_mabbe Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 Hi there I wouldnt say that any therapy really is about fixing, a more accurate word would maybe be changing or shaping. Pain usually drives us to seek therapy, and we want an end to that pain. We can think of what it would be ike to be the opposite of how we are now, and that mental image can become our concept of 'better'. In fact, the outcome of therapy is often that we are different, but not in the way we envisaged. CBT can work in different ways depending on who is doing it with you. Generally it deals with thoughts, beliefs and automatic assumptions, which are a way of describing how your emotional attitues about the wold and yourself shape you actual experience. It also looks at how the things you do, the actions you take, spring from those thoughts and beliefs and also how they reinforce them. With time it asks you to see what happens if you look for evidence in your environment that these beliefs might not be true, and to take new actions that are in line with the newer set of potential beliefs. The idea is that as you have new experiences, slowly those old beliefs and emotions will be smoothed away and shaped. Usually there will be forms to fill in that start by charting your moods and thoughts, then begin to ask you to look at these new ways of thinking about things, then finally to try out new behaviours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippab Posted October 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 oh okay...... i think i got that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonelyheartemma Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 (((((Pippa)))))) I knew you had a lot of problems but it does especialy bad when you see them all written down together like that! I'm glad you are having therapy now and i really hope you find it helpful. i've never had cbt but i've studied it and it says you are usually given homework so you can carry on working to help yourself even when you dont have a session. its just like Ross said, its about looking at how all these crises effect you and then finding the thoughts you have that lead to this behaviour and helping you change your view on things so you are thinking and behaving in different ways. so like they'll look at what makes you scared of going to the shops, and helping you to see why the things you are scared of arent likely to happen and once you believe that you shouldnt be so scared. lots of people on this site have had it and found it really helpful, hopefully some more people will post and tell you about it xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippab Posted October 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2011 thanks Emma......... the docs called today and my first appointment is next thursday!!! I think im more worried they will try and put me on medication again ....... i am happy to talk about things as long a its truly private.......... i started a diary so i think i'll take that with me. luckily they are being nice and allowing me to have the therapy at my doctors which is at the top of my road (instead of the other side side of town..... - therapist wouldnt come to my house) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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