# Cognitive Therapy



## sbelle (Jan 18, 2009)

Has anybody tried Cognitive therapy? i am about to start it but i don't know if it is going to be helpful at all. I'm kind of nervous about going through it because i don't know what to expect. Last time i went through therapy for SA it didn't work at all. It was very disapointing.


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## R4ph4el (Sep 20, 2005)

I think it's the same as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? If so, it's said to be the most effective therapy for SAD . I wish I could find a therapist who does Cognitive Therapy.


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

yes, I found the cbt to be good enough for my generalized anxiety but not so much for sa


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## livinginfear (Jan 31, 2009)

*Is that like rational emotive therapy?*

I tried that once, but it didn't help at all. I already know that what I feel isn't rational, and that seemed to be the whole point of it. For me it just sort of reinforced my feelings of not belonging in the world. Maybe cognitive therapy is something different though.:um


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## shadowsandlight (Jan 24, 2009)

CBT therapy worked very well for me. It can be very helpful for SA if you have the right mentality about it. Basically, if you go in believing "this isn't going to work" and you don't do your part in the process (doing the exercises you are given, using the techniques you are taught on a daily basis), it isn't going to work. I have seen posts in other threads where people seem to think therapy doesn't work because they weren't fixed after one or two sessions, and/or think it is some kind of passive process, where you either just talk at someone about your problems or they talk at you. In reality, it is work. What you get out of it is going to depend on how much work you are willing to do.


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## DepecheEyes (Aug 19, 2008)

Cognitive Therapy is only half of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. With the latter, not only do you get to counter your automatic negative thoughts, but you also get the exposure therapy, which is the behavioral component to CBT. Some therapists also use role-playing to develop social skills as a behavioral component to therapy.

In any case, the Cognitive Therapy isn't going to be enough without the Behavioral Therapy, but you can always get an excellent self-help resource like Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness by Gillian Butler or The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook by Martin M. Antony.


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## DepecheEyes (Aug 19, 2008)

I forgot to mention the typical techniques used to treat SAD in CBT. For the cognitive component, countering your automatic negative thoughts (ANTs), reducing your self-consciousness, and perhaps changing your beliefs and assumptions are the tools of the trade. For the behavioral component, it is identifying and stopping your safety behaviors (anything you do in a social situation that you think reduces the chance of being humiliated or embarrassed but actually continues your social anxiety) and gradual exposure hierarchy for completed avoided situations.


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## engima (Feb 3, 2009)

it works.. it did for me anyway .. learn more about yourself I think .. if you can't get CBT therapist read "Feeling Good" by Burns, was popular when it came out ... very effective book imo, or at least very interesting


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