# Help with CBT ?



## PWTC (Mar 12, 2012)

So I've had 3/4 sessions of CBT now and I don't really feel like I'm progressing. I understand what my therapist is telling me and agree with him for the most part but I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do. The main issues are thought challenging and exposure/behavioral experiments. I know my thoughts are stupid and wrong for the most part, but it doesn't help in social interactions since I'm not really thinking and I'm finding behavioral experiments very difficult to set up. The way my life is right now, I basically don't even have to leave my flat and I still get social interaction with my flat mates, but anxiety isn't really a problem in my flat...

I'm not really sure what to do. My next session is on Monday and I have nothing to show since the last time. It was the same with my last session and the therapist mentioned that I need to do more outside of the sessions but last time I actually had an excuse with University work, this time, I don't :/


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## acidicwithpanic (May 14, 2014)

If you feel like it's a waste of time, you can always switch to another therapist or just quit altogether. I personally found CBT to be helpful, but it took years to see any significant progress.


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## Caedmon (Dec 14, 2003)

I'm hearing good elements but the following are some ideas you could share with the therapist (or are you doing these already?):

-Doing *thought records*. This is so helpful! 
-Learn about your *core beliefs*. So, not just the practice of "catching negative thoughts" and cognitive distortions. Really find out what negative beliefs you might have, start to record evidence that they are not always or fully true. Alternatively, record evidence of an alternative or more accurate belief. This takes time to discover.
----Conduct "experiments" with your negative beliefs in mind. In other words the purpose of experiments is to test beliefs and see if they are accurate.

When do you feel anxious? If therapy activities don't feel important then you probably won't do them, so stick to things you feel have a strong relevance to your *current situation*.

Keep in mind something about cognitions: they are not necessarily verbal thoughts! Sometimes they are in the form of *images *(of oneself, usually, either in the moment or envisioned in the past or future). Watch for "post-mortems" & ruminations.

3-4 sessions you are not that far into it so don't worry too much. But I would go ahead and guide your therapy how you want it. Hope those ideas help! 



PWTC said:


> So I've had 3/4 sessions of CBT now and I don't really feel like I'm progressing. I understand what my therapist is telling me and agree with him for the most part but I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do. The main issues are thought challenging and exposure/behavioral experiments. I know my thoughts are stupid and wrong for the most part, but it doesn't help in social interactions since I'm not really thinking and I'm finding behavioral experiments very difficult to set up. The way my life is right now, I basically don't even have to leave my flat and I still get social interaction with my flat mates, but anxiety isn't really a problem in my flat...
> 
> I'm not really sure what to do. My next session is on Monday and I have nothing to show since the last time. It was the same with my last session and the therapist mentioned that I need to do more outside of the sessions but last time I actually had an excuse with University work, this time, I don't :/


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## Unkn0wn Pleasures (Nov 24, 2011)

It's still early days. Personally, I only made significant progress towards to *end *of (and just after) three months of CBT.

Also, if you're stuck for behavioral experiments, you can keep 'em really simple, and repetitive. Actually, repetition is good! Stuff like asking a stranger for the time, smiling and making eye contact with the bus driver, small talk with a shop attendant etc. can make a surprisingly big difference if you do them regularly (say, a couple per day).


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## PWTC (Mar 12, 2012)

Thank you all for the responses, they were really helpful. Especially the advice on behavioural experiments, I never really thought about them that way, they seem way easier to set up now 

You all seem to be saying that 3/4 sessions isn't a lot, but my therapist mentioned last time that I should probably only have 2 more sessions with him and then switch to another or stop if there's no significant improvement. I feel like I've barely even given CBT a chance and it's already being looked at as not working... Is it normal to switch between different therapists after so few sessions? (I'm in England, on the NHS if that changes anything)



Unkn0wn Pleasures said:


> It's still early days. Personally, I only made significant progress towards to *end *of (and just after) three months of CBT.
> 
> Also, if you're stuck for behavioral experiments, you can keep 'em really simple, and repetitive. Actually, repetition is good! Stuff like asking a stranger for the time, smiling and making eye contact with the bus driver, small talk with a shop attendant etc. can make a surprisingly big difference if you do them regularly (say, a couple per day).





Caedmon said:


> I'm hearing good elements but the following are some ideas you could share with the therapist (or are you doing these already?):
> 
> -Doing *thought records*. This is so helpful!
> -Learn about your *core beliefs*. So, not just the practice of "catching negative thoughts" and cognitive distortions. Really find out what negative beliefs you might have, start to record evidence that they are not always or fully true. Alternatively, record evidence of an alternative or more accurate belief. This takes time to discover.
> ...


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