# Who here has tried CBT on themselves?



## CrimsonTrigger (Jun 28, 2011)

I've been to counselling before, but at this point there's nothing more they can do for me. They just tell me to think good thoughts, and that pisses me off because they're basically telling me my thoughts aren't worth taking seriously.

The first counsellor I saw gave me a CBT sheet to take home every week, but I never ended up doing them. I should have, but that was 5 years ago and I wasn't ready to take this on. Now I think I'm ready. 

I'm just wondering if anybody here has tried this on themselves and if it has made a difference. I really don't want to go back to counselling at this point. Regardless of what anybody says, I'll still try it. I just want to see if it has been helpful to anybody here.


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## lde22 (Oct 19, 2009)

I haven't really tried it yet, but I have read good things about the "Overcoming Social Anxiety Step by Step" audio program from the social anxiety institute. It's based on CBT, so if you really want to try to go it alone you might look into buying that program. It's pretty expensive thoug, about $300.


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## Miss Awesome (Sep 1, 2012)

I'm going to school for counseling, and the major assignment for our CBT course was a behavior modification project that was ideally supposed to be done on someone else. With my social issues, I ended up trying it on myself. I tried to increase my exercise behavior, and I was not successful.


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## jimity (Jan 12, 2011)

You need to keep at it and then overtime your positive/reality-based automatic thoughts become automatic and controls the anxiety reactions. It works but you get out of it what you put into it. I tried it numerous times and it does help but I gave up probably because I had grand expectations but only got minor results.


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## paulyD (Feb 16, 2011)

CrimsonTrigger said:


> I've been to counselling before, but at this point there's nothing more they can do for me. They just tell me to think good thoughts, and that pisses me off because they're basically telling me my thoughts aren't worth taking seriously.
> 
> The first counsellor I saw gave me a CBT sheet to take home every week, but I never ended up doing them. I should have, but that was 5 years ago and I wasn't ready to take this on. Now I think I'm ready.
> 
> I'm just wondering if anybody here has tried this on themselves and if it has made a difference. I really don't want to go back to counselling at this point. Regardless of what anybody says, I'll still try it. I just want to see if it has been helpful to anybody here.


i've tried it myself and it works. the thing you have to realise though is that you absolutely must focus on progress and forget about perfection. some people try it and because they don't get this miraculous results they discount it and say it doesn't work. but it does work. it just takes time and effort. sometimes you'll fail.

i used to be a perfectionist myself. i had this self image of myself as somebody special. so i'd go out and try and overcome my fears with cbt and expect big results which matched my self image. when i didn't get the results i was looking for i'd get disheartend and think that i'd failed. that led me to quit and put off starting again. looking back though i was getting RESULTS. i was moving in the right direction but i discounted it because i was expecting more. it's like trying to lose weight. if you lose 2lb of fat per week then your diet is working. but some people expect to look like supermodels within weeks therefore they dont see the significance of losing just 2lb

all you want is small bits of progress that keeps you moving foward. cbt definately gives you that. it works but it's a slow process

*a bit of advice i will give you is to get help. i know you said you want to do it without counselling but i'd advise against this. any change that a person makes in life wether it be losing weight, gaining confidence, overcoming depression or whatever , the most important thing is to have support. any change requires support. social anxiety though is a special case. it requires more support than any change requires. social phobics need more support than anybody trust me


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## Mauler1919 (Jul 3, 2011)

CBT works slowly overtime if you keep at it. Helps to find a therapist that specializes in it to assist you. Don't be willing to settle for any therapist as most have no clue.



lde22 said:


> I haven't really tried it yet, but I have read good things about the "Overcoming Social Anxiety Step by Step" audio program from the social anxiety institute. It's based on CBT, so if you really want to try to go it alone you might look into buying that program. It's pretty expensive thoug, about $300.


It can probably be found for free on bit torrent sharing sites.


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## socialanxietyfix (Nov 30, 2012)

I think it's great that your therapist is performing the CBT along side of you. Some therapists won't go this extra step. Sounds like you're getting some great hand-holding support over there. Give youself a pat on the back for sticking with it.

CBT does take quite a while. That said, over time, you will dull down the pain of anxiety in these public settings. Kind of like exercise. Hurts like hell at first, but as you get stronger, you look for more challenging situations to overcome.


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