General Chat

Happy birthday dear leader of the depressed and anxious, without you this thread wouldn't exist. Group (((((((hug))))))) for our Carole.
love,
Mary

PMSL Mary! I have had a lovely day. No running to the loo (well just once) and enjoyed a lovely night out with some close family and friends.

Eileen CBT is cognitive behavioural therapy. But it doesn't mean much to me :o)) Liz might be better able to explain it!

What is cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)?
Cognitive therapy
Our 'cognitive processes' are our thoughts which include our ideas, mental images, beliefs and attitudes. Cognitive therapy is based on the principle that certain ways of thinking can trigger, or 'fuel', certain health problems. For example, anxiety, depression, phobias, etc, but there are others including physical problems. The therapist helps you to understand your current thought patterns. In particular, to identify any harmful, unhelpful, and 'false' ideas or thoughts which you have that can trigger your health problem, or make it worse. The aim is then to change your ways of thinking to avoid these ideas. Also, to help your thought patterns to be more realistic and helpful.

Behaviour therapy
This aims to change any behaviours that are harmful or not helpful. Various techniques are used. For example, a common unhelpful behaviour is to avoid situations that can make you anxious. In some people with phobias the avoidance can become extreme and affect day-to-day life. In this situation a type of behaviour therapy called 'exposure therapy' may be used. This is where you are gradually exposed more and more to feared situations. The therapist teaches you how to control anxiety and to cope when you face up to the feared situations. For example, by using deep breathing and other techniques.

Cognitive behaviour therapy - CBT
This is a mixture of cognitive and behaviour therapies. They are often combined because how we behave often reflects how we think about certain things or situations. The emphasis on cognitive or behaviour aspects of therapy can vary, depending on the condition being treated. For example, there is often more emphasis on behaviour therapy when treating obsessive compulsive disorder (where repetitive compulsive actions are a main problem). On the other hand, the emphasis may be more on cognitive therapy when treating depression.

What conditions can be helped by CBT?
CBT has been shown to help people with various condition - both mental health conditions and physical conditions. For example:

certain anxiety disorders including phobias, panic attacks and panic disorder
depression
eating disorders
obsessive-compulsive disorder
body dysmorphic disorder
anger
post-traumatic-stress disorder
sexual and relationship problems
habits such as facial tics
drug or alcohol abuse
some sleep problems
chronic fatigue syndrome / ME
chronic (persistent) pain
As a rule, the more specific the problem, the more likely CBT may help. This is because it is a practical therapy which focuses on particular problems and aims to overcome them. CBT is sometimes used alone, and sometimes used in addition to medication, depending on the type and severity of the condition being treated.

What is likely to happen during a course of CBT?
The first session of therapy will usually include time for the therapist and you to develop a shared understanding of the problem. This is usually to identify how your thoughts, ideas, feelings, attitudes, and behaviours affect your day-to-day life.

You should then agree a treatment plan and goals to achieve, and the number of sessions likely to be needed. Each session lasts about 50-60 minutes. Typically, a session of therapy is done once a week. Most courses of CBT last for several weeks. It is common to have 10-15 sessions, but a course of CBT can be longer or shorter, depending on the nature and severity of the condition. In some situations CBT sessions can be done by telephone.

You have to take an active part, and are given 'homework' between sessions. For example, if you have social phobia, early in the course of therapy you may be asked to keep a diary of your thoughts which occur when you become anxious before a social event. Later on you may be given homework of trying out ways of coping which you have learned during therapy.

How well does CBT work?
CBT has been shown in clinical trials to help ease symptoms of various health problems. For example, research studies have shown that a course of CBT is just as effective as medication in treating depression and certain anxiety disorders. There may be long-term benefits of CBT as the techniques to combat these problems can be used for the rest of your life to help to keep symptoms away. So, for example, depression or anxiety are less likely to recur in the future. There is good research evidence too to show that CBT can help to improve symptoms of some physical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.

What is the difference between CBT and other talking treatments?
CBT is one type of psychotherapy ('talking treatment'). Unlike other types of psychotherapy it does not involve 'talking freely', or dwell on events in your past to gain insight into your emotional state of mind. It is not a 'lie on the couch and tell all' type of therapy.

CBT tends to deal with the 'here and now' - how your current thoughts and behaviours are affecting you now. It recognises that events in your past have shaped the way that you currently think and behave. In particular, thought patterns and behaviours learned in childhood, However, CBT does not dwell on the past, but aims to find solutions to how to change your current thoughts and behaviours so that you can function better in the future.

CBT is also different to counselling which is meant to be non-directive, empathic and supportive. Although the CBT therapist will offer support and empathy, the therapy has a structure, is problem-focused and practical.

What are the limitations of CBT?
CBT does not suit everyone and it is not helpful for all conditions. You need to be committed and persistent in tackling and improving your health problem with the help of the therapist. It can be hard work. The 'homework' may be difficult and challenging. You may be taken 'out of your comfort zone' when tackling situations which cause anxiety or distress. However, many people have greatly benefited from a course of CBT.

How can I get CBT?
Your doctor may refer you to a therapist who has been trained in CBT. This may be a psychologist, psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse, or other health care professional. There is a limited number of CBT therapists available on the NHS. You may wish to go private if it is not available in your area on the NHS. (See below for resources.) However, government policy is to make CBT more widely available on the NHS.

Do-it-yourself CBT
Although CBT with the help of a trained therapist is best, some people prefer to tackle their problems themselves. There are a range of books and leaflets on self-help for the problems which CBT is useful for (anxiety, phobias, depression, etc). More recently, interactive CDs and websites are being developed and evaluated for self-directed CBT for a variety of conditions. See the resources below for further details.

Further resources
The British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP)
Globe Centre, PO BOX 9, Accrington, BB5 2GD
Tel: 01254 875277 Web: www.babcp.com
Maintain a register of practitioners. They also have pamphlets (for a small charge) which provide information about problems such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD, social phobia, agoraphobia, chronic fatigue syndrome, eating disorders, etc.

Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre (OCTC)
Based in the Oxford Psychology Department, part of Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare Trust.
Web: www.octc.co.uk
Their website gives details of how to order a number of self-help booklets with a CBT approach for conditions such as OCD, anxiety, panic, depression, phobias, etc.

Ultrasis
Web: www.ultrasis.com - produce interactive, computer based CBT programmes.

FearFighter
Web: www.fearfighter.com - a method for delivering CBT on the internet.



References
Depression and anxiety - computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (CCBT), NICE (2006)
What are Cognitive and/or Behavioural Psychotherapies? A paper prepared for a UKCP/BACP mapping psychotherapy exercise by Katy Grazebrook, Anne Garland and the Board of BABCP July 2005
O'Kearney RT, Anstey KJ, von Sanden C. Behavioural and cognitive behavioural therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder in children and adolescents. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 4
James A, Soler A, Weatherall R. Cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2005

I thought you had been busy typing there Liz. But I guess you c/p it from somewhere!

Eileen.... an easy mistake to make?
I don't think so.
I have NEVER MADE ALLAN COFFEE WITH A STOCK CUBE!I have always used COFFEE GROUNDS. ha ha ha

Caz Y... let me know where you are going too,

And Carole I'm a bit frightened to ask this now having been away so long myself, but what has happened to our Joyce?

Got to go now as I have been on here too long and am really tired.

Love to all of you and forgive me for not mentioning you.
I will get better and better and will eventually be able to type great long boring messages as I used to. ha ha ha

Have a lovely Sunday afternoon, even if you have a relaxing snooze, as I am about to do. ;-0)

Lots of love to all of you.
Deanna XXXX

It's not Carole who needs to look at her behaviour.

Deanna I don't know what happened to Joyce. I did keep mentioning her for a long time. But if people don't want to join in I don't want them to feel pestered, so stopped. I just hope she is well.

Sharron who do you mean ? lol

Hi

How is everyone?

I have got over that TV advert model unwanted infatuation. I dont mind a small attraction but this was major and I wasd ruminating and worrying over a non entity and as ssaid they dont look as flawless in real life as they do on TV as they lay it on with a trowel, bucket and spade. I actually looked at her again a few days ago and as I have got over it, a sudden chill ran through my body as to how skinny she was, not my type of girl anyway but she looked too skinny. Her arms are like twigs. Defo not my girl.

I have been doing my family tree well and have had more praise on the Roberts illegitimacy success story wher they all say that he must have been the father of my great, great gran as everything fits and all the evidence says so. A lady actually said that the reasons I gave for the initial illegitimacy are very plausible and that is a good enough reason for the illegitimacy then she said well done.

The baby in question was not born in London but lived there from babyhood, her parents married there when she was 7 months old, and she was then baptised there when she was 10 months old, and lived there until she died aged 79 in 1943. Born in Sussex, but baptised in Stoke Newington, London, then inbetween the ages of 1 and 22 she lived in Bow, Lambeth, Walworth, Holborn then Fitzrovia where she married in 1886 before moving to Camden, then Islington in 1888 then back to Camden in 1898. I would say she was a Londoner, wouldn't you?

Ben

Carole,I hope you take a copy of the narcissism article for your therapist.Or you could just take your mother!

Good day all.
Just dropped in to see who had been here on the last page.

Ben and Carole.... come on folks, I have troubles typing but reading is still good. ;-0)
Deanna XXXX

Hello Deanna, I am here but trying to make some Easter cards. This morning did a load of washing, then went for a 2-3 mile walk. Kn......d (tired) now. Hope you are OK.

Ann
Glos

I'm almost incognito this week as I'm pulling extra shifts at work due to an outbreak of Influenza 'A'. We are working with minimum staff, lots of overtime and extra shifts. So I'm basically spending my hours off sleeping. Thinking of you all, even when invisible . . .
Yesterday being St Davids day, I spent it among uneducated people who don't even know what it is LOL. yet they plaster the place with fake shamrocks for St Paddy (who was actually born in Wales - we won't mention St David being born in Ireland LOL)
My dear son bought me a pot of daffs to celebrate St David's day, but didn't come home due to overtime at work, so he took a photo of my pot of daffs (sitting on his hall floor among his shoes!!)and sent it to me LOL.
It's the thought that counts!!
mary

Hi Carole, yes c and p'd all that, if I had tried to type something out that long be sure it would disappear just as I got to the end lol

Mary, love the photo idea of the pot of daffs and if your son brings them next time he comes you can put them in the garden, or did you say you were planning to move? It was a lovely thought anyway.

Deanna, I bet Joyce still reads the threads and will answer when she feels up to it.

Must carry on catching up and trying to empty my mail box too, before I get told off again lol

love to all

Lizxxxx

Hi everyone, I am not ignoring you but been so busy, well as busy I I can be, one job and I'm worn out. Don't know how we will get moved the way I am. Well, it's all signed and sealed and first fortnight paid so theres no going back now, even if I wanted to, the address is completely different to what I thought it was but I will send it to everyone in my address book but it might take some time.
Going out this morning to choose paint, it's a lovely anaglypta(sp) wallpaper, not too fussy a pattern so will look nice painted, and quicker.

I too have no idea about Joyce, she is my 'big sis' but I promised her I wouldn't pm her, leave her to come to terms with things, might break my promise and pm her. Or if you are reading this Joyce could you pm me just a little one to say how you are, we miss you a lot.

Sorry to say I haven't had time to read last couple of pages so I am sorry if I missed something that I should have responded to.
Got to go now, Dutch pm'd me yesterday but I didn't have puter on, she asked for me to add to her thread, she is still not well, in fact she sounds very, very, tired, also broke her glasses so can't see anything.

Love and hugs to all
Caz xx

OMG Liz, what a thought, move again? I think not. Actually I was wondering about the daffs, I have about 100 bulbs which didn't make it into the garden last October, can I put them in now or do I have to wait till later in the year? I was going to have my front flower bed alight with yellow daffs this spring. Didn't happen.
I babble on about moving and various other things. perhaps it's time to get my thinking cap on straight for the first time in years. I've been thinking a lot recently (I know, you could smell something burning), about why I rarely feel settled, I'm always looking to move or relocate, or . . . I think this may go back to my childhood depression when I was forced to emigrate, kicking and screaming. Truthfully, although I love this house, I feel as if I have no roots, don't know where I really belong, when I was down last week because I ran out of the citalopram, my mind went to work analyzing myself. I never feel completely settled. restless, always expecting something to happen, as a child, never believed it when something good happened, always waiting for something to go wrong. I've certainly progressed from that point, can appreciate something positive, but I do not know where I belong. is it perhaps presently because the house isn't as I'd like it, despite multiple attempts to declutter, it's not cozy as I'd like it. I'm still waiting for the axe to fall.
Sorry to ramble on, at least here someone will understand what I'm expressing,most people just think 'there she is, off on one of her tangents again'. I yearn to go home, but once there become depressed that I have to leave again until another short visit. My last auntie died in February, I just received the news today, she had reached 100 years old, got her letter from the Queen etc. I so wanted to visit before she was gone.And had I known, I would have borrowed the $$ for a trip to attend her funeral. But one week runs into another, procrastination becomes the norm, my small family is reducing in numbers and we are so far apart.
I'm off to bed now, will try and arise in a better mood tomorrow.
Mary

love and hugs to everyone I hope you all have a good day
Rachxxxx

Mary what age were you when you emigrated? It certainly sounds as if you never came to terms with it. I wonder if others feel the same as you - rootless-?

Rach returning your ((((hugs)))) hope you feel a bit better this week.

YCaz, it will get done eventually, small steps at a time. Do you actually have a date when you intend moving in? Thanks for news about joyce (Dutch), Poor woman she does have such a heavy load to carry sometimes and to now break her glasses must seem like the final straw.

Liz, hope your PC stays fixed.

Hi to everyone, have been putting water on the gardens today as everything needed a drink.

It has been trying to rain but not successful as yet.

Thinking of all of you, was wondering how y/caz's move was going, do not worry too much it is probably all the excitement of moving, wondering how you will get things sorted. I do not mind packing, hate the unpacking and wondering where things will fit. The house we lived in before this one had 3 bedrooms and built in cupboards in every room, even the hallway, this house is only 2 bedrooms and a very small cottage. We have built ins now, but only for 3 years, I wonder how we managed at first. The only cupboard in the kitchen was with the sink and was only 2 door cupboard so was very grim. It is funny how you adjust though and after a while it seemed to be normal.

Well off to watch Torchwood on UK TV.

Love and hugs

Gail

PS: Mary you do not ramble.

Thank you to you all for the cards you sent for my birthday xxx
I didn't expect so many cards this year. xxx Sorry not to have thanked you sooner see below.

Big upset at our house. H went home on Sunday, after her weeks hol with us, to be told by her boyfriend of nearly eight years he didn't feel the same, and it was over. She come home again. Her job (bank assistant) is an hour away if she had a car, but she doesn't. So this week she has his car or ours but after that we don't know what will happen. Her boss is going to see if H can get a transfer to our city. She went back last night to collect her stuff and came home crying again.( A friend went with her so at least she had company). So we just hugged both of us crying! He came out with us Saturday night, guess he didn't want to put a downer on the birthdays (it was H's on the 24th) We are all a bit dumb struck at the moment.