# cbt works



## paulyD (Feb 16, 2011)

cbt definately works. cbt explains that your fears are irrational and are a result of negative beleifs that aren't true. and i can vouch for that 

for most of my life i've had a real problem with group situations. i've always felt like i was an outsider and that i wasn't welcome in groups and that other people were really mean and unfriendly and unwelcoming.
it all stems from when i was a kid were i experienced a lot of trauma to do with groups situations. i experienced a lot of things were i was left out of the group, ganged up, humilated by the group abnd things like that

anyway just recently i decided that i wanted to join this sports team. but i was terrified. i thought that i wouldn't be welcome there. on my way down to the sports centre on my first night i felt really anxious and i kept telling myself ''i'm not welcome. i don't belong here. i don't fit in'' and in the end i felt so bad that i just bottled out and went home 

thats when i tried some cbt. i used a tool called ''examine the evidence''. i looked at my past experiences and put them into perspective. i found that when i was left out of the group as a kid it was basically because all of those people in the group were really imature and insecure. and that the chances of other people being that mean and immature were really slim now. 
i asked myself if i was part of a group and a new person wanted to join would i be mean to them and try and make them feel unwelcome. i asked myself i'd seen a group of people welcome a new comer before. 
basically i just looked for a lot of evidence to counter my faulty beleifs. and i found a lot of evidence.

after using ''examine the eveidence'' i changed my beleif a lot. at first i was convinced that the group would make me feel unwelcome but after examining the evidence i realised that was very unlikely to happen.

then i used a cbt tool called ''decatastrophizing''. i asked myself if my worst fear did actually come true would it be the end of the world. would the group making me feel unwelcome really be as bad as i thought it would be. 
at 1st i was convinced that the group making me feel unwelcome would be a desaster. but after ''decatastrophizing'' i realised that even if i was made to feel unwelcome it wouldnt be that bad. i would know that the only reason they were making me feel unwelcome is because they are insecure and mean. it is no reflection on me as a person. and if it did happen i could just brush it off and go and look for a new group. it's definately not a bad enough experience to avoid it 

after ''examing the evidence'' and ''decatastrophizing'' i used a technique called ''moving your beleifs from your head to your heart''.
basically you can change your beleifs by looking at things in a different way in your mind but you will never TRULY beleive the new beleifs until you see the evidence in real life with your own eyes. i had to test the new beleifs.

i went bak to the sports centre and on the way there i felt a bit better than i did last time because i this time i wasn't really expecting anything bad to happen. instead of telling myself ''i'm not welcome'' i was telling myself ''these people are probably freindly and will probably welcome me but if they don't then so what''. 
i must admit i didnt feel fantastic. i felt better than i did the 1st time but still it this situation felt a bit risky. i wasnt expecting something bad to happen but still i wasnt 100% sure that nothing bad would happen either.

anyway when i got there people's reactions towards me were very good. people were shaking my hand and stuff like that. one person actually literally said to me ''nobody has a problem with you being here'' which was great. after a few weeks of going so many things happened that proved i was welcome.

now when i walk down to the sports centre i feel comfortable and automatically my thought pattern is ''im part of the group. im welcome here''.
i used to aviod this sitauation and veiw it as a nightmare. but i proved that it was irrational to be that way. there was need to avoid this sitauation


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## jonny neurotic (Jan 20, 2011)

That's awesome. I have high hopes for this myself but I haven't heard back from the psychiatrist. It's been almost a year now a year now and no word. I told her I wanted CBT. I've been letting it slide because I have been in a bad frame of mind this past year but I will be pestering them soon until they give me what I need. I am glad to hear positive news about CBT. I have been reading a bit on it but I really need to see a professional...


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## Twelve Keyz (Aug 28, 2011)

good to hear! I'm also starting cbt in a few weeks. thanks for sharing!


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## sporteous (Mar 26, 2012)

That's great news man. My psychiatrist told me CBT wasn't that good, and I'm better off taking medication.


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## UKPhobe (Oct 22, 2008)

It does work yes, for some people anyway. It worked for me.

I think some people over promote CBT as some sort of miracle cure that will help everyone, not everyone has had success with it as is evident on SAS and SAUK but I've long said CBT should be a sufferers first port of call.


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## jonny neurotic (Jan 20, 2011)

sporteous said:


> That's great news man. My psychiatrist told me CBT wasn't that good, and I'm better off taking medication.


You psych is a shill. You can tell him/her I said this.


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## ryobi (Jan 13, 2009)

good to hear! 

I'm working on a cbt book with my therapist.


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## sporteous (Mar 26, 2012)

You psych is a shill. You can tell him/her I said this.[/QUOTE]

Haha, I will man, I'm never going near meds, and I am going to do CBT.


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## MobiusX (Nov 14, 2008)

cbt works... for some


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## Sparkee (Nov 21, 2011)

PaulyD, that is great to hear. That you found it to be effective. Alot of anxiety does have to do with our thinking. My problem is the panic attacks hit me before I have time to think differently.
So did you write down or talk to somebody about your thoughts, then what? Just told yourself the truth? Then tried to go to the sports centre?

I'm waiting to see somebody who can help teach me about cbt.

Medications help for now.


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## JenN2791 (Aug 21, 2011)

Been figuring CBT may help me. I fear so many things that the average person wouldn't, and so forth.

Downloaded a copy of "CBT for Dummies" months ago, and found it hard to be motivated to study through it regularly. Going to get back into it once more + actually stick to it.


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## paulyD (Feb 16, 2011)

Sparkee said:


> PaulyD, that is great to hear. That you found it to be effective. Alot of anxiety does have to do with our thinking. My problem is the panic attacks hit me before I have time to think differently.
> So did you write down or talk to somebody about your thoughts, then what? Just told yourself the truth? Then tried to go to the sports centre?
> 
> I'm waiting to see somebody who can help teach me about cbt.
> ...


i just read read gillian butlers book ''overcoming social anxiety and shyness'' to learn the tools of cbt.

i basically just asked myself what i feared would happen if i went to the sports centre (and i wrote that fear down).
then i kept trying to find evidence that my fear WOULDN'T come true. i did this by asking myself a lot of questions like ''if i was part of a sprots centre and a new person joined would i make them feel unwelcome? etc.....''. i built up a lot of evidence to counter my fear (and i wrote all of the evidence down)

then i asked myself if my fear did come true would it be that bad? i tried to think back over my life when my fears have to come true and if it really was a catastrophy or wether i got over it pretty quickly (again i wrote that down)

by looking at what i'd written down on paper i realized that then chances of my fears coming true where very slim and even if they did come true they wouldnt be a big deal. that reduced my fear quite a bit

then i just developed a statement that i could tell myself as i appraoched the feared situation ''these people are probably friendly and will make me feel welcome but even if they dont so what who cares''

and whilst i was in the situations i had things to try to look for. for example evidence that i was welcome e.g someone smiling at me etc..... the more evidence i gathered the more comfortable i felt


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## river1 (Jan 12, 2012)

thanks for sharing ièm definitely going to consider this now. i have a cousin who has done cbt and she was very encouraging about doing it ..


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