# Did CBT work for you or not?



## Encantado

I had CBT around 3 or 4 years ago, I did not find that it helped at all, infact it made me worse and also realise that I appeared to know more than the actual therapist about what would cure me so ended up leaving the area and I was cured..until I had to come back due to physical illness.
People think that im just making excuses up when I say that I have 'area specific' SA. I think there are a hundred different reasons as to why people have SA so cant all be cured the same way. Have you had CBT and did you find it helpful or not?


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## Unsure1993

not yet but i hope to within the next few weeks.

perhaps it was just your therapist that was bad? They can't all be good, just because they have a piece of paper from a college saying they can do it doesn't mean they are neceserially good in practise.


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## Encantado

Unsure1993 said:


> not yet but i hope to within the next few weeks.
> 
> perhaps it was just your therapist that was bad? They can't all be good, just because they have a piece of paper from a college saying they can do it doesn't mean they are neceserially good in practise.


I think we did have a personality clash also and it didnt help me saying 'Yes I already know that, have tried that etc' She wanted to feel like she was telling me something new that would help me, I didnt want to lie and pretend I didnt know something or hadnt tried it when I had. I didnt trust her either she randomly turned up at my house as part of my therapy and then when I didnt answer the door basically told me I was going backwards. I had just jumped out the shower though and she turned up with a man I didnt know, by the time I was dressed they had gone, I wouldnt answer the door half naked to most people. She also got fustrated with me alot when I didnt know why I had SA, my point was that if I knew why I had it I would probably be more able to figure out how to cure it.


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## Unsure1993

ah, she doesn't sound very paitent at all. Um i've also heard that it's often better for men to see male therapists and women vice versa. I'm assuming you're a man but I got no real idea so don't be offended if i'm wrong.


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## Escape Artist

CT discussions and CBT helped immensely. I guess part of it is finding someone who can really tap into your issues and create a proper plan for you. Then its up to you to execute, push boundaries, and rationalize your behaviors.

I think it can work for anyone really. You just need the right circumstances.


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## Encantado

Unsure1993 said:


> ah, she doesn't sound very paitent at all. Um i've also heard that it's often better for men to see male therapists and women vice versa. I'm assuming you're a man but I got no real idea so don't be offended if i'm wrong.


She was abit no nonsense type attitude. I am female actually im not offended haa im not that girly. I found the men I saw to get on with better, but they were not CBT's.


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## trendyfool

well so far after 10 months of cbt I feel a lot more normal, and I can control my moods a lot better and have a better perspective on my life. I still have such a long way to go, though, and often when I'm having a bad day I feel like I can't use the skills I learn in cbt. but overall it's really good


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## hoddesdon

It did help, but it does not work in 40% of cases.


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## RetroDoll

no. just another bill tacked onto the health insurance companies.


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## Akane

Not. I find therapy pointless. It's someone telling me a bunch of stuff I already know and usually telling me to either do something I don't want to ever be able to do anyway or something I'm already doing on a much more massive scale. I spent most of childhood and teenage years repeating positive statements to myself to counter the negative statements I was getting from everyone else. I've got 20 or so years of practice in it now so I fail to see how anyone is going to teach me to do it any better. Imagery is another area that their level is nothing near my level. They talk about imagining beaches to help you calm down or go to sleep when I've been spending hours every day or night making up entire planets and universes since 3rd grade in order to keep my mind occupied or get to sleep.



> Um i've also heard that it's often better for men to see male therapists and women vice versa.


I hate female therapists. It's much easier to relate to male therapists but then I only tolerate female friends because for some reason guys don't want to put in any effort being just friends with girls.


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## Cisco

Encantado said:


> People think that im just making excuses up when I say that I have 'area specific' SA. I think there are a hundred different reasons as to why people have SA so cant all be cured the same way.


I think that's totally true. If the same things worked for everybody, this problem would be wiped out by now.

I think I know what you mean by 'area specific'. SA can affect everything you do, or just show up in certain problematic areas. For instance, I can do public speaking. I don't like it, but I can do it. Does it help me with having friends and a life outside my house after work? Absolutely not. That's totally beyond some therapists' comprehension - they figure if you can do public speaking, you're OK, and send you to Toastmasters for practice.



Encantado said:


> I think we did have a personality clash also and it didnt help me saying 'Yes I already know that, have tried that etc' She wanted to feel like she was telling me something new that would help me, I didnt want to lie and pretend I didnt know something or hadnt tried it when I had.


Yeah, some therapists don't know what to do next when you step off the flowchart in the therapy book, so to speak.



Encantado said:


> I didnt trust her either she randomly turned up at my house as part of my therapy and then when I didnt answer the door basically told me I was going backwards. I had just jumped out the shower though and she turned up with a man I didnt know, by the time I was dressed they had gone, I wouldnt answer the door half naked to most people.


Holy professional boundary violation, Batman!

I don't know where you're located, but this strikes me as inappropriate behavior by the therapist. Most therapists I've met won't even do _in vivo_ exposure with their patients because they're so concerned about boundaries. Showing up at your door unannounced with some stranger as part of therapy seems awfully odd to me. Did she ever give any kind of indication she might do this at some point before this happened?



Encantado said:


> She also got fustrated with me alot when I didnt know why I had SA, my point was that if I knew why I had it I would probably be more able to figure out how to cure it.


I don't know if knowing why we have it even helps to cure it. Ultimately, it's likely caused by things we can't change - genetics, past experiences, etc. Insight helps, but I don't know if not having it precludes making progress.

As far as guys seeing male therapists and girls seeming female therapists, it's more of a personal preference I think. I kind of like male therapists because they tend to be more down-to-earth about things. Some guys have said that they're more comfortable talking about personal problems to a woman than revealing that stuff to another guy. It's whatever you're comfortable with that matters.


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## lissa530

Encantado said:


> Have you had CBT and did you find it helpful or not?


No it was not at all helpful for me.


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## Zlajo

Also not helpful for me. I am reading now self-help book "The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety", new ACT therapy. It's very promising therapy and some people on another forum recommended it to me.

Also, I got one more symptom while I was on CBT therapy: sweating while I am in bank...


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## kev

My first psychologist tried to use CBT on me. No offense to him, he was a good guy, but I just don't think he was a very good psychologist. He kept showing me the chart about how thoughts lead to behaviors lead to actions, and I'm like "well, no duh." It really made me depressed, and I kind of thought of him as simple-minded. I'm not saying he was incorrect, simply that he was not very perceptive about my feelings and overall his treatment failed. I feel bad saying that because I really like the guy, but I shouldn't feel guilty either.

Good psychologists are able to adjust to their patient and really change them from within. My best psychologists were always very perceptive, able to get inside my mind and change me from within.

Of course, CBT may be successful if the psychiatrist is competent and you are emotionally ready to handle it (the last point is key, since people in deep depression do not always respond well to being bossed around, told what to do). 

Just my opinion. Some people may disagree.


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## alwaysmistaken

I tried CBT for 8 months, and for those whole 8 months I dedicated myself to the CBT and did everything that the psychiatrist advised me to do. I feel like I came out of the last month no better then when I first visited the psychiatrist. I guess it works for some people and not for others.. but I just wanted to clarify that I fully participated in the CBT and still found that it didnt work at all for me. I would suggest that anyone try CBT (if they needed it/thought it may help) because it may work for them.


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## DK3

alwaysmistaken said:


> I tried CBT for 8 months, and for those whole 8 months I dedicated myself to the CBT and did everything that the psychiatrist advised me to do. I feel like I came out of the last month no better then when I first visited the psychiatrist. I guess it works for some people and not for others.. but I just wanted to clarify that I fully participated in the CBT and still found that it didnt work at all for me. I would suggest that anyone try CBT (if they needed it/thought it may help) because it may work for them.


Hi, did you gain anything from the experience though? I found it did help give me a little push and get me on the right track, but didn't really "cure" me and I still had the same problem with anxiety and fear in social situations.

My main problem and fear is eye contact and speaking. I'm wondering if a much more intensive approach like sitting face to face close with someone regularly would help desensitize. Explore the feelings of embarassment and uncomfortableness in depth etc, just let it all come out and gradually the fear should go away..

You know it's interesting that Scientologists (I know people are probably recoiling now in distaste due to their bad rep, but hear me out) employ a similar approach to treating their members called "engram clearing". Obviously this is wrapped in pseudo-science to some degree. But it does seem to help people and "clear" these bad negative thinking problems and image issues.. if you look at many scientologists who have undergone the "clearing" they went in very emotionally troubled or lacking confidence and come out supremely calm and very confident speakers, they maintain perfect eye contact etc. I've spoken to some face to face before. I reckon it's this desensitizing effect going on.

I was just wondering if a similar approach might work for SA treatment...


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## matte

Actually I found that CBT helped me a lot..maybe I was lucky because I had a very good and experienced therapist. I have been jumping from therapist to therapist before ending up with this one. I guess for CBT to work, you just need to find the right therapist for you.


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## blondie27

I took a six week stress management course because according to them stress can make anxiety worse, it didn't really work and I'm currently on my 4th week of cbt and I can honestly say that reading the booklets she gave me to read and talking to her about it seems to be making me more on edge because now I'm focusing on the symptoms more because I'm reading about them all the time.I hope it will eventually work, I know it works for many people so its worth a try!


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## hulaa

blondie27 said:


> I took a six week stress management course because according to them stress can make anxiety worse, it didn't really work and I'm currently on my 4th week of cbt and I can honestly say that reading the booklets she gave me to read and talking to her about it seems to be making me more on edge because now I'm focusing on the symptoms more because I'm reading about them all the time.I hope it will eventually work, I know it works for many people so its worth a try!


I totally agree! I managed to see a councellor on the NHS after months of waiting and by talking about my anxiety and the symtptoms and causes etc it has brought all these thoughts to the front of my mind and am thinking about it alot more and it kind of made me worse. Also it probably didn't help that she in my opinion didn't fully understand SA


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## UKPhobe

alwaysmistaken said:


> I tried CBT for 8 months, and for those whole 8 months I dedicated myself to the CBT and did everything that the psychiatrist advised me to do. I feel like I came out of the last month no better then when I first visited the psychiatrist. I guess it works for some people and not for others.. but I just wanted to clarify that I fully participated in the CBT and still found that it didnt work at all for me. I would suggest that anyone try CBT (if they needed it/thought it may help) because it may work for them.


 
Interesting, any idea why it didn't work for you?

I'm not dumb or naive enough to assume that CBT will absolutely work for everyone but I've often theorised that for most of those for whom it didn't help it was because they didn't stick to it very long or didn't make much effort on the exercises.


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## jimbo1

i think talk cbt, talk therapy and whatnot dont really work. just rehashing the same old stuff you already know.


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## sleepytime

I'm not going to rubbish CBT because it clearly works for a lot of people, but there a lot of others (me included) who didn't like CBT at all found ACT to be much more useful. I'd suggest anyone who didn't find CBT useful to have a look at ACT instead.


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## jangle1

I'm going to give my honest assessment of my CBT experience. 

=====BACKGROUND======

I came into CBT with very high expectations, I expected to leave the program pretty much symptom free. For me that meant being able to easily show my personality in day to day social situations and be able to control panic symptoms in performance situations such as public speaking.

My CBT program lasted for about 6 months. It consisted of weekly hour long exposure sessions followed by daily monitoring forms and specific tasks to carry out throughout the week.

I completed each of the exposure sessions which consisted of striking up conversations with strangers, presentations, and casual conversations. However, when it came to homework assignments, I didn't really comply that well. Mostly because I just didn't feel motivated to, and my anxiety symptoms were still at high levels that made me tend to avoid the situations. 


So that's the background info. 6 month, fairly scientific program, with poor homework compliance. 

=====EXPERIENCE=====
The exposures would typically bring out panic attack intensity. Especially during presentation exposures. They were carried out for about 5 minute increments with a total of about 7 sessions so lasted a little over half an hour. Before each session I would go over a cognitive chart where I listed my expectations, thoughts, etc. For each exposure, I found that by the 6 or 7th session, my anxiety levels would drop quite substantially to the point where I felt relatively normal in the situation. This definitely boosted my confidence for being able to handle the situation. However, I would find that by the next exposure session, my anxiety levels had pretty much returned to where they were before.

Honestly, charting my progress from week to week, I did make gains. I was able to become more talkative, and feel less inhibited. My mind didn't blank out to the level of intensity that it did before I started CBT. 

The main gain I had with CBT though, wasn't on my fear or anxiety symptoms, but on my avoidance. This is really what I think CBT's main advantage is, it gets you to a point where you don't avoid situations like you normally would.

However, even though I found I wasn't avoiding situations as much, it didn't really matter because my anxiety and panic symptoms were pretty much the same or perhaps slightly attenuated. So even though I was participating more, I really wasn't because even in those situations I was still being hampered by my SA to connect with others and show my personality. 

The gains I made during the exposures just didn't seem to last, I'd feel good for about 1 or 2 days after an exposure, but my anxiety levels would always return to near baseline.

I say near baseline because I have to admit that the CBT did reduce my anxiety levels somewhat. It's enough to be noticeable, so I can't say it did nothing. 

However, I don't think it's right for someone reading this to project onto their own expectations. Honestly, I think the positive effects of CBT is a range, with people at either extremity, and the majority of people in the middle where you get only some effect. Maybe if I had adhered more to the homework assignments I would have made more progress, but honestly that's incredibly difficult to do with the level of anxiety that I have. 

Anyways I hope this helped some readers, feel free to ask me questions.


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## catcharay

jangle1 said:


> The main gain I had with CBT though, wasn't on my fear or anxiety symptoms, but on my avoidance. This is really what I think CBT's main advantage is, it gets you to a point where you don't avoid situations like you normally would.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think that is true - atm. I'm trying my own informal CBT, now that I've got a better grasp at keeping my mind in the present. In your situation I think you should have a strong foundation of being in the present. I've heard CBT places emphasis on being in the present. Over time, maybe not today or tomorrow but you will definitely improve in your own time. I feel so much better because of it.
Click to expand...


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## jangle1

catcharay said:


> jangle1 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The main gain I had with CBT though, wasn't on my fear or anxiety symptoms, but on my avoidance. This is really what I think CBT's main advantage is, it gets you to a point where you don't avoid situations like you normally would.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think that is true - atm. I'm trying my own informal CBT, now that I've got a better grasp at keeping my mind in the present. In your situation I think you should have a strong foundation of being in the present. I've heard CBT places emphasis on being in the present. Over time, maybe not today or tomorrow but you will definitely improve in your own time. I feel so much better because of it.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, I can honestly say I'm less socially anxious than when I started CBT. It's hard to quantify in numbers but I definitely notice that I'm more capable of being in social situations and exhibiting more of my personality.
> 
> I guess I should have listed some of my accomplishments, I was able to go to downtown clubs with friends, and I was able to talk with female strangers there. I've been able to give presentations (although with still anxiety) but I've managed to get to a point where I don't avoid presentations.
> 
> So really what CBT did for me was somewhat lower my anxiety levels and drastically lower my avoidance levels.
> 
> I can realistically see a good CBT program taking a highly motivated person to remission, it just takes knowing how to do exposures. In the case of exposures, it really is quality over quantity. You should be identifying exactly what thoughts you are having in the situation, be able to find evidence to repeal those thoughts, and engage the situation and teach your mind that it is a safe practice. Realistically speaking, your exposures should last a long time, with the anxiety lasting a while before the anxiety starts to come down. If that is happening, then you are doing your exposures correctly.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


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## Tommmy

jangle1 said:


> I'm going to give my honest assessment of my CBT experience.
> 
> =====BACKGROUND======
> 
> I came into CBT with very high expectations, I expected to leave the program pretty much symptom free. For me that meant being able to easily show my personality in day to day social situations and be able to control panic symptoms in performance situations such as public speaking.
> 
> My CBT program lasted for about 6 months. It consisted of weekly hour long exposure sessions followed by daily monitoring forms and specific tasks to carry out throughout the week.
> 
> I completed each of the exposure sessions which consisted of striking up conversations with strangers, presentations, and casual conversations. However, when it came to homework assignments, I didn't really comply that well. Mostly because I just didn't feel motivated to, and my anxiety symptoms were still at high levels that made me tend to avoid the situations.
> 
> So that's the background info. 6 month, fairly scientific program, with poor homework compliance.
> 
> =====EXPERIENCE=====
> The exposures would typically bring out panic attack intensity. Especially during presentation exposures. They were carried out for about 5 minute increments with a total of about 7 sessions so lasted a little over half an hour. Before each session I would go over a cognitive chart where I listed my expectations, thoughts, etc. For each exposure, I found that by the 6 or 7th session, my anxiety levels would drop quite substantially to the point where I felt relatively normal in the situation. This definitely boosted my confidence for being able to handle the situation. However, I would find that by the next exposure session, my anxiety levels had pretty much returned to where they were before.
> 
> Honestly, charting my progress from week to week, I did make gains. I was able to become more talkative, and feel less inhibited. My mind didn't blank out to the level of intensity that it did before I started CBT.
> 
> The main gain I had with CBT though, wasn't on my fear or anxiety symptoms, but on my avoidance. This is really what I think CBT's main advantage is, it gets you to a point where you don't avoid situations like you normally would.
> 
> However, even though I found I wasn't avoiding situations as much, it didn't really matter because my anxiety and panic symptoms were pretty much the same or perhaps slightly attenuated. So even though I was participating more, I really wasn't because even in those situations I was still being hampered by my SA to connect with others and show my personality.
> 
> The gains I made during the exposures just didn't seem to last, I'd feel good for about 1 or 2 days after an exposure, but my anxiety levels would always return to near baseline.
> 
> I say near baseline because I have to admit that the CBT did reduce my anxiety levels somewhat. It's enough to be noticeable, so I can't say it did nothing.
> 
> However, I don't think it's right for someone reading this to project onto their own expectations. Honestly, I think the positive effects of CBT is a range, with people at either extremity, and the majority of people in the middle where you get only some effect. Maybe if I had adhered more to the homework assignments I would have made more progress, but honestly that's incredibly difficult to do with the level of anxiety that I have.
> 
> Anyways I hope this helped some readers, feel free to ask me questions.


This has really put me off going to CBT, I didn't think they'd make you do things like that. Sounds terrifying.


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## bottleofblues

jangle1 said:


> Anyways I hope this helped some readers, feel free to ask me questions.


Yeah i got a question and for anyone else who found CBT beneficial, I've asked this before on a thread but didn't really get a concrete answer: When you were taught CBT did your therapist tell you to do 'rational thinking' in your head in a given situation, or do they just get you to write in a journal the situation that caused anxiety and then to write a counterstatement, a more 'rational' way of thinking?
Because i've been through CBT many years ago and i really tried hard to make it work for me, but the idea of trying to think rationally as soon as a negative thought comes up doesn't help me, first off its too mentally exhausting i have probably thousands of 'negative' and 'paranoid' thoughts all day long to counter every one of them i'd spend so much time talking to myself in my head that i'd be practically mute!
And secondly it just doesn't make me feel any better, and i know that theres also the 'behavioural' part of it, but thats not a problem for me anymore, ie i don't really 'avoid' anxiety provoking situations i'm just in the middle of them everyday.


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## northstar1991

I'm currently undergoing CBT and have been for a few months. It has been a little bithelpful but I haven't seen a big difference so far.


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## Ms Cloud

Someone suggested CBT to me recently. The way it was described, made it sound like complete BS. 
I don't know if it is or not, but it's interesting to see (based on the above responses) that my skepticism is not entirely unfounded.


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## jangle1

bottleofblues said:


> Yeah i got a question and for anyone else who found CBT beneficial, I've asked this before on a thread but didn't really get a concrete answer: When you were taught CBT did your therapist tell you to do 'rational thinking' in your head in a given situation, or do they just get you to write in a journal the situation that caused anxiety and then to write a counterstatement, a more 'rational' way of thinking?
> Because i've been through CBT many years ago and i really tried hard to make it work for me, but the idea of trying to think rationally as soon as a negative thought comes up doesn't help me, first off its too mentally exhausting i have probably thousands of 'negative' and 'paranoid' thoughts all day long to counter every one of them i'd spend so much time talking to myself in my head that i'd be practically mute!
> And secondly it just doesn't make me feel any better, and i know that theres also the 'behavioural' part of it, but thats not a problem for me anymore, ie i don't really 'avoid' anxiety provoking situations i'm just in the middle of them everyday.


Well when I first began CBT, I found that I had to do most of my thought corrections after the event. During the event my mind was just too scatterbrained and blanking out to register anything meaningful. However, that's ok because when you're doing it after the event you're still learning. If you do it correctly.

I guess the best way to describe it is through an example. Think of your muscles. You have voluntary and involuntary muscles. Same thing with your brain, you have the thoughts you are in control of, and thoughts that just automatically appear. The goal of CBT is to get those automatic thoughts changed, not to change your voluntary thoughts. The thing that makes this work however, is that through voluntary thoughts that you believe, your brain will automatically make the adjustment.

The hard part is making your brain believe it. This requires evidence for your new way of thinking, and counter evidence for your old way of thinking (through exposures).

Simply thinking will not produce the change, you can think all you want, but until the brain registers it on a deeper level, it will not change your involuntary thoughts.

So in this way, when I'm in the anxiety provoking situation, I'm not going to be able to change my thoughts when my anxiety levels are substantially high. Because my brain is not likely to believe I'm not in any danger or threat. However, through repeated exposure, in which I receive instant feedback about this situation, my brain then automatically began to realize the threat wasn't realistic. During my exposures, the participants would give me feedback based on they were actually thinking about me. This enabled my anxiety levels to come down somewhat. It wasn't due to voluntary thought on my part, it was due to my body not being able to maintain the anxiety response forever and "subconsciously" registering and internalizing that the anxiety was not appropriate to the situation.

So in a way, I wasn't necessarily actively thinking, I was absorbing the provided information and engaging my involuntary thought processes. When the anxiety came down enough to where I could think clearly, then yes, I would ask myself questions such as, "is this really unbearable?" "what are the actual consequences if I did make an idiot of myself." etc. etc. It was during this time that I was able to start build confidence through the "voluntary" thought mechanism and where I could internalize my voluntary thoughts to become my automatic thoughts.

EDIT: I wanted to clarify why and how my anxiety was coming down. One exposure session consisted of 6-7 increments. Each increment lasted about 5 minutes. After each increment, the participants would fill out their opinions of me. During the first 3-4 increments, my anxiety was constant. However, just simply being in the situation, and reading the people's responses, my involuntary thoughts began to adjust. Also the body can't maintain the fight or flight response forever. By the 4 and 5 increment the anxiety came down. By the 6-7 increment, I was giving a presentation like as if I was talking to someone I knew for 10+ years. It was easy, symptom free, and I wish I could have maintained that sensation lol. By the 6 or 7 increment I felt completely SA free actually, and what it's like for a normal person to give a presentation.
End EDIT:

It's sort of like falling in love. You don't think to yourself, "I want to love this person." and then all of a sudden, your body releases the fuzzies when you're around them. First your attraction to them physically occurs through an involuntary thought process. Then you realize certain traits about them, you build complex memories of their personality, you ruminate about them, you have strong mental fantasies about them, and then after this engagement of intense voluntary thought does your body internalize it into a deeper involuntary response to whenever you're around them.


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## bottleofblues

jangle1 said:


> Well when I first began CBT, I found that I had to do most of my thought corrections after the event. During the event my mind was just too scatterbrained and blanking out to register anything meaningful. However, that's ok because when you're doing it after the event you're still learning. If you do it correctly.
> 
> I guess the best way to describe it is through an example. Think of your muscles. You have voluntary and involuntary muscles. Same thing with your brain, you have the thoughts you are in control of, and thoughts that just automatically appear. The goal of CBT is to get those automatic thoughts changed, not to change your voluntary thoughts. The thing that makes this work however, is that through voluntary thoughts that you believe, your brain will automatically make the adjustment.
> 
> The hard part is making your brain believe it. This requires evidence for your new way of thinking, and counter evidence for your old way of thinking (through exposures).
> 
> Simply thinking will not produce the change, you can think all you want, but until the brain registers it on a deeper level, it will not change your involuntary thoughts.


I've been where you've been many years ago, not meaning to sound condescending, but around my late teenage years/early 20s i used to get real anxious standing in line at the bank or supermarket but I'm no longer that bad, but i didn't get better from any organised desensitiation like you did it just slowly occured naturally over time. I've read many times that anxiety disorders tend to lessen with age, (I'm 33 now) and that has been the case with me.
But i still have intense paranoia and anxiety at work (everywhere i work) the feeling that i'm always being watched and judged and that i'm scrutinized on every little thing i do its almost unbearable, but being exposed to the situation does not help in the slightest, i've been doing the same job now for several months and it never gets any easier.
To me the feeling that i'm always been watched/judged is like when you feel the sun on your face on a hot day, i just can't ignore it or even if i counterstate i still _feel_ it all day long.
Anyway i'm glad to hear you've made progress and that CBT has helped you in someway but for me i'm still stuck in this hellhole of a life with nobody who has any answers for me.


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## fleur de lis

CBT was better than nothing. In my 20's I struggled with standing in the supermarket q, found being on a bus painful and tried to avoid sitting at a table eating with others etc. GP provided some sessions at the surgery. 

The problem for me was that I had spent all my life 'being in my head' and the exercises made me think and sent me straight there. I would go blank so I couldn't really get the full benefit from it. 

The benefit for me was that it was helpful to spend some time in a safe space with someone who understood SA and didn't provoke my issues with intimacy. And as a result my symptoms temporarily reduced but I needed something more which I later found.


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## anxioustom

*Finally some one has experienced what I have..*

I have a sleep disorder, and I swear to god I had a bad feeling about it either not working or wasting my time but obviously having gone through over channels and not working I thought to myself, why not..

I never would has guessed that it would actually make my sleep disorder (biological) even worse.

I was dumbfounded.. somehow the cbt had altered my sleep physiology and I swear from that day all those years ago my sleep has been terrible because of it.

Obviously when they you tell the docs, they just say "erm.. Duh" I dun know.. hur hur.

Seriously I should have gotten compensation (though there is no link between what I have experienced) though really they shouldn't have suggested trying to fix a genetic sleep disorder with CBT.

This is the problem.. when there are no answers a doctor is always quick to jump the the conclusion that it is Psychological.

After years of experience and research I have concluded and I am happy to inform my fellow man that they have almost zero validity (except for psychiatric disorders with genetic link)

One's symptoms could be caused by any number of environmental circumstances

(YES THAT'S RIGHT I AM EVEN TALKING ABOUT ANXIETY DISORDERS ) ***

It could be toxins ranging from air pollution to teflon in non stick pans getting into your lungs and blood etc. (I stopped using non stick pans and I feel 1000% better . Someone please explain that?

Of course, a narrow minded fool would assume it's psychological, however before the teflon realisation I had eliminated about 500 toxins from my lifestyle and all with no effect.. (do the math) also, I am not uneducated by any means. I have a degree in Nutrition.

Like I said, trust me on this. The system has been lying to you.

Fun tip:

Give this a try:
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Cut out all stimulants, caffeine, tea etc.
Cut out all trans fat's, vegetable fats etc.
Start using coconut oil to fry with (use ceramic non stick pan) or normal stianless steel.
Start eating healthy
Cut down on fluoride use from toothpaste
get your vitamin D
Vitamin A

start light exercise at least 3 per week. (not much)
stop drinking soda's
incorporate more fruit into your diet
switch from sugary drinks to fruit juice

try to sleep regularly, don't smoke, eat wholegrain bread, limit cereals, eat more nuts

This isn't an exclusive list. But you get the idea. (Your anxiety, will go away)
Trust me. they had me on medication etc.. and I suffered for years before I realised the physiological things that were underlying it.

To be fair it's not a complete conspiracy.. modern science is only grasping the beginning of all this toxicity but use your brain, do the math, lung cancers up 500%, obesity, diabetes etc all epidemics.
In addition, male sperm quality and count is down 40% in just 2.5 decades.

That is phenomenal information, yet no media seems to be publishing it.. Why?

good luck. I wish everyone health and happiness.

"Let thy food be thy Medicine and Thy medicine be thy food"


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## Kiwong

Not really, but then I didn't devote enough time to it. I reckon meditation and mindfulness are my most useful techniques. It is easier to empty the mind rather struggle with positive and negative thoughts.


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## hoddesdon

partially


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