I've been trying to come at this blog post for a little bit now, so I hope this reads clearly.
The key message is: research your therapy type (you'd never have guessed, would you?).
The reason I say this is based on my personal journey. In my early 20s I was sent to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for generalised anxiety disorder (although I'm not certain that diagnosis necessarily existed in those terms back then).
I didn't get on with CBT -- so much so that I felt it was making my anxiety worse. So I stopped attending.
I will admit, I only gave it 2 sessions, which isn't necessarily long enough to know if you'll ultimately get on with something or not. (I wrote about this in a previous blog post here.)
But back then the therapist didn't take the trouble to explain CBT or how it worked. I'm not an expert and -neither have I done any research- (so I could be entirely wrong), but my feeling now looking back is: CBT was fairly new, and the practitioner I was sent to still harkened back to psychotherapy type approaches. (Think Freud and the like saying: "how was your relationship with your mother?")
And what was delivered to me in those 2 sessions was the worst of both worlds. It was neither a humanistic talking therapy/counselling -which is what I thought I wanted at that time- nor was it fully realized CBT.
I've since been referred for CBT again for both depression secondary to chronic fatigue (Behavioural Activation) and for the GAD again, a year or 2 ago.
This time, once again, the practitioners still didn't take the time to help me understand CBT. And I still had my previous bad experience colouring my attitudes.
So this go around the BA practitioner did her best, even gave me a couple of extra sessions, but it didn't help. And the CBT one gave up on trying to use CBT techniques fully with me. It gave me a bit of an easy 'out' from doing the work at that time, but equally it meant that those 6 sessions were a bit of a waste of time for both of us.
What has changed my opinion is a self-help book I bought called Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before by Dr Julie Smith. (Look out for a book review I think I'll probably write in due course.)
The book basically seems to contain CBT techniques (I say 'seems' as I'm only up to around chapter 4 as I write this). The difference is, Dr Smith takes the time in the pages to explain why the techniques work. That's it. No terribly highfalutin science. Just a compassionately written, very readable how-to guide.
It almost seems too simple to be true, in many respects. Very straightforward to comprehend.
AND I've been using the first few techniques, AND they're working for me. (They're somewhat less simple to use habitually than to read up on, of course. But if working on one's self was that easy we could all be totally mentally healthy overnight -- if only! And that word I used there -habitually- is a pretty key one.)
Anyway, with that wonderful benefit: hindsight, I wondered whether CBT could have helped me sooner, had I understood from the outset how it's supposed to work? (Being charitable, it's possible it might not have, because it's possible I simply wasn't ready at the time. We'll never know.)
In conclusion, I want to recommend that anyone going for therapy research what type you're going to be getting, whether you're paying privately and have the luxury of shopping around, or taking what you can get on the NHS/via your insurance. It may well be helpful in how successful your treatment is.
This could be as simple as asking the practitioner to outline their approach for you in your initial consultation with them. (And if their initial explanation doesn't do it for you, keep asking until you feel comfortable, or ask if they have any literature they can point you to.)
I feel like this YouTube video from Kati Morton's channel gives a good -and brief- overview of CBT, if you're looking for a place to start. Additionally, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy provides an A-Z list of therapy types on their website, here.
Finally, if you're someone who'd struggle to access mental health services for any reason, I've included some resources (in the UK, unless marked with*) which you might like to look at as a starting point (but -ideally- not a substitute -- please prioritize your mental health, everyone).
These are below (as hyperlinks, in case that isn't clear in your browser):
- Apps for self-care posts: post 1 (from June 2020) and post 2 (from January 2022)* [=shameless self-promotion]
- CIMHS/Bliss Free Online Therapy for Depression free short course*
- Crappy Childhood Fairy Daily Practice free short course*
- Every Mind Matters - NHS
- Gardening 4 Health – A Directory of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture in the UK
- Getselfhelp.co.uk
- Meditainment | Guided meditation and visualization
- Meditation - HelpGuide.org
- Mental wellbeing audio guides - NHS
- Mindful Art Club – Coffee, Creativity, Company.
- Overcoming Apps
- Self-Administered EMDR (Is it A Good Idea For You?) - YouTube*
- 7 Cups* (?)
- 750words.com -- daily writing habit site
- Side by Side | A community platform by Mind
- Singa Karaoke (*?) (do an internet search for: singing for stress relief if you don't believe me!)
- The Forest Bathing Institute
- Therapy in a Nutshell | How to Process Your Emotions - YouTube*
- Wellbeing Support | Activities & ideas | British Red Cross
- Wysa - Everyday Mental Health app* (?)
Almost all of the above require internet access, at least initially, so if you don't have this you may also want to be aware of your local library service: Local library services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Podcasts I recommend, too:
I previously recommended The Doctor's Farmacy from Mark Hyman, and I do still believe it to be an informative resource, but I feel it's more for those who want to gain a very in depth understanding of functional medicine, whereas the above podcasts are a bit more general and therefore accessible.
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European Union laws require that EU visitors be given information about cookies used and data collected on this blog. Google/Blogger have added a notice on this blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies, and other data collected by Google. If this notice does not display and you are in the EU, please will you notify me in the comments section. Many thanks.
