Do you go to counseling?

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It is quite hard for me to say, now... It was a quite while ago. And I was a completely different person back than. I was almost mute, withdrawn and depressed. At that time in my life, the most important thing I needed was to be given some confidence, and to learn basic techniques for reducing my anxiety. It certainly helped me with those issues, although it wasn't the cure.

The kind of therapy given in CBT probably varies depending on the particular problems of the client, but from what I know and from my own experience; the therapists are less aggressive and more sympathetic than Psychoanalysts. I think that CBT is more about developing practical coping techniques, in contrast with Psychoanalysis; which seems to involve breaking down the entire psyche and rebuilding it.

In my case, the therapist would encourage me to talk about anything that was causing me concern; any behaviours or thoughts that I couldn't control. She would ask me to talk about what exactly went through my head in situations that I found problematic, and taught me ways of reducing my stress through ridding myself of harmful thoughts.

I don't know enough about you, or about the process, to recommend it; but it is probably worth thinking about. I'm thinking of restarting it myself.

I probably should but I just don't trust mental health professionals any more.

You communicate so elloquently now; I'd have never guessed. But, I've been several different people in my life, so I think I understand, to some small degree. Maybe I was even you, once...


Thank you, for sharing that information. My doc did describe to me that it is a highly customized process. I half think it really is similar to what I do in the forums here.


Sure you do; we're both members of the GEOQ, remember? We know each other quite well; but, farther down the timeline... Just cock your head, squint, and glance down the forth dimension... Can you see me? We're three-dimensional creatures, but we have the abililty to glance into adjacent dimensions, if we really try just right... You do know all about me; just, not yet; but there is a certain quantum vibration; I sense it when I meet people who eventually become my friends; it's happened here on the WP several times. Can you feel it? The difference between knowledge and ignorance is only a matter of time, and of inevitability... And time will tell.

[[EDIT - NOTE TO SELF:
Error specification: access fault in Icarus persona construct; build fault in human-interactive construct sequence.

Directive: ~T+, access to this level of project Icarus should be restricted to those with level 2a clearance or better; revise and tighten criteria for promotions in clearance level, and examine all current clearance settings; examine Icarus persona to identify access faults, and patch faulty entry points; adjust human-interactive construct build sequence to compensate for additional unknown variables (TBD: unknown variables).

Subcatagory keyword: "creepy"]]

Good fortune,

- Icarus the Seer

Last edited by Icarus_Falling on 07 Sep 2007, 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Currently:

Psychiatrist every fortnight or so -- anxiety and autism
social worker once a month -- autism (ha, we go out and do stuff in society; coffee and whatnot)
and I'm seeing a psychologist next week -- autism

I have been seeing a psychologist for cognitive behavioral work with my anxiety, mainly my social anxiety.
I have been going for about 3 months now bimonthly. I have learned some things that I have been able to put into practice and have noticed that they have helped. I find that I am learning how to be more aware of how I am feeling before my anxiety gets to be too much to handle.
I am struggling right now with continuing it. I find it is helpful and I want to improve, but the other half of my brain keeps tossing up any sort of excuse it can come up with to dissuade my conscious mind. It is extraordinarily frustrating to argue with yourself, you never completely win or lose. I know that I have an avoidant personality and I need to really work hard at doing some things.

I'd find it humiliating if somebody was to give me any advice , doesn't matter what sphere of life those pieces of advice would concern. I always know best what i should do.

Icarus_Falling: CBT is widely considered the most effective therapy available especially because many programs actually record success rates, unlike psychotherapy which is by nature hush hush. It is something that can be adapted to any situation, in fact once you get the basic principle of it you don't really need someone to help you so long as you can be smart you can come up with solutions. It is especially good if you are logical, a lot of bad belief can be defeated but application of logic. On the other hand creative ideas also can help. Sometimes someone else is just not going to think like you or have the patience to do it at your pace. The solutions have to come from you to work.

Basically you need to realise that humans are fickle, we are experts in getting ourselves into negative cycles. So if you have a part of your life that you think is a crock then probably if you step back you could see how you are in a cycle and you could try to break out of it.

CBT has similarities with emersion and can include any other sort of therapy as part of your solutions if you think it will work

Unlike emersion you don't just sick the person in front of their 'demons'. That can have the opposite effect. It is more of graduated process (Behavioural). That is why you have to be quite intelligent about think about the steps, often thinking quite laterally. You need to reinforce these steps by working on you thought patterns (Cognitive). Best bet is to try and remove the weakest link in the cycle.

CBT says the cause/origin of a behaviour is just a catalyst. The past is not necessarily relevant anymore. It could make you worse to go back there. Only do it if it is clear that your current thought patterns are still derived from the exact same events (often the case with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). In the case of ASD often our behaviour of lack of isn't our fault any it more of a quest than anything else. I also have memory problems so I didn't have the choice to go back anyway.

CBT can only work if:

a. It can be clearly defined, as in you could map out the cycle roughly.
b. You have the motivation to solve it.

Without those two there is little point in trying CBT. I would recommend doing something else in the mean time. I was introduced to CBT through my (ex) shrink. I think she would be classed as psychodynamic with CBT training. But really she was many things, pretty talented. The point is she didn't actually do much CBT guidance herself. She introduced me to leaflets and books. She knew I was smart enough to take it in and apply it. She just encouraged me in a way I didn't realise at the time, by making things my idea (cheeky cow )

An example of graduated physical emersion in an application of CBT was the eye contact exercises she did on me to help desensitise my eyes in direct eye contact.

that sounds like it is working. Your avoidant side is kicking in natrually. It is ok to avoid things that are not going to have an effect on something you want to do. But if it is interfering with your life you need to break it.

Maybe you could do a schematic about this specific cycle. Try and find the weakest most illogical part of it to tackle.

I see a Psychiatrist that specializes in Autism.

I see a psychologist every Monday. She is called Ivy.