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Heard CBT doesn't help for long? People's views?


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Hi everyone!

Ok so basically I've been doing really well. Any intrusive thoughts I have now I basically don't react to, accept it's there but get on with my day. I have cut compulsions down to a minimum and have recognised when I'm ruminating or reassurance seeking and switch my attention on to something else straight away. Ive felt the method where you ask your anxiety to do its worst and invite it in has helped. I've felt so much better over these past weeks and have actually felt like I'm getting somewhere! I have woke up in tears this morning as I'm having a difficult morning not giving in to compulsions but I know it'll do me good in the long run!

I was just browsing through twitter a moment ago and came across someone had posted an article from a leading psychologist. This psychologist stated that people with anxiety and depression will only recover with cbt for a couple of years and then will fall back in to their old ways and old behaviours because CBT is a scam and a waste of time and money. This spiked me as I've been feeling a lot better lately but this post made me feel like ****. I feel like CBT has really helped me.

I had 14 cbt sessions altogether and have been working my ass off in order to change my mindset! This has really shot me down and kind of made me feel a little hopeless again.  My goal is to live an ocd free life and I'm pretty sure I was getting there.

I now have thoughts about all themes however I am able to accept them for what they are and get on with my day which I never was able to do before. But this post has really upset me. I torally diagreed with it. What a horrible way to shoot down a method which is some people's only hope of recovery. 

Edited by Lish
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From my, limited, experience, I would think CBT will have varying levels of effectiveness depending on the cause of the OCD.  I understand that it's up for debate and is not 100% agreed on as to the causes but say it was genetic and something to do with brain chemistry etc then I would assume that it would be less effective as a total cure.....but that it would give a patient tools to control thoughts and to recognise behavioural patterns and so forth to be able to function.

If it was brought on by experiences, events or learned behaviour then I think it sounds like it could be far more effective as a 100% cure to reverse thought patterns etc.

So I don't think it is a 100% cure in all cases but more a sliding scale with its effectiveness depending on the quality of therapist, cause of the OCD and the commitment of the patient.  From reading people's experiences it sounds like some have totally cured themselves  with CBT while others have managed to obtain an element of control so I don't think it's a scam or waste of money.

As you have said you felt better and getting somewhere.  Any reduction of OCD is a success, if you fully recover then that's brilliant, so continue with what has been helping you that's the logical thing to do.

Best Wishes

 

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It hasnt cured me as such, however it pointed me in the right direction. Cbt sessions and research showed me that I can change the way I react to such thoughts and not see them as such a threat.

Ocd is now trying to cling on for dear life because I have cut down my compulsions. It's almost like it doesn't know where to go. But this is making me anxious as hell.

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I think psychologists/researchers like any other people have agendas and there are some with bees in their bonnets?They're humans! Some make their reputations or hope to by disagreeing with others.

I would just keep doing all the things you describe that are working for you. Some whose OCD returns will have stopped practising their CBT - it's only human to get complacent but sometimes events will happen that really throw you and you end up back where you were before. That happened to me. It was dispiriting but predictable - anyone can relapse when the going gets tough.

Answer is just to get back to work at what helped before?

 

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3 hours ago, Lish said:

This psychologist stated that people with anxiety and depression will only recover with cbt for a couple of years and then will fall back in to their old ways and old behaviours because CBT is a scam and a waste of time and money.

Who said this?   Whoever this is cleary has an agenda, and it talking tosh, utter tosh.  I would actually put in a complaint to his accreditation body or NHS if NHS. 

If CBT stops working, it's because somehow, somewhere we are getting something (often very subtle) a tad wrong, and a minor therapeutic adjustment can set us moving forward again.

 

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3 hours ago, Rucker said:

say it was genetic and something to do with brain chemistry etc then I would assume that it would be less effective as a total cure

But some have shown that therapy can change brain chemistry. So why couldn't CBT be effective in that scenario (not that I agree). 

 

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I totally agree Ashley. The article was by a leading psychologist apparently, who said this about cbt. Before CBT I felt doomed. He stated that those who even have cbt will not fully recover and will go back to their old ways. That's what's upset me because I think it's so ignorant to say that because people work damn hard to get recovered through cbt! 

I am still going I'm not fully recovered yet but I'm a lot better than I was. Like I said because I have a different theme every day erp doesn't work great for me. This is why I have to do exposure in the way of inviting my anxiety in and telling it to do its worst.

I don't even think that article should have been posted because of the way it can make people spike. Like I said, cbt is the only hope for some people and that is such an ignorant way to talk about it.

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1 minute ago, Lish said:

I totally agree Ashley. The article was by a leading psychologist apparently, who said this about cbt. Before CBT I felt doomed. He stated that those who even have cbt will not fully recover and will go back to their old ways. That's what's upset me because I think it's so ignorant to say that because people work damn hard to get recovered through cbt! 

Are you able to link me the article, send in private if you prefer or email it to me?   I think there is a growing trend in psychology for therapists to push their own agenda... a current agenda with some is to do away with diagnosis 'labels' for example.

It's not to listen to rubbish like this, but try and dismiss it by reading content by known specialists in treating OCD like Salkovskis, Radomsky etc.  Ask them and they will tell you CBT works, and when done right can be a permanent solution. 

5 minutes ago, Lish said:

I am still going I'm not fully recovered yet but I'm a lot better than I was.

Great to read :) In my case with some aspects of my OCD I have totally 100% resolved, other areas I am still working on with some slight adjustments and work needed.  

 

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That's where I saw it too Polar Bear. What did you think of it? Read it and let me know what you think ashley. A lot of people were agreeing with it, which shocked me. 

I am almost there. I have questioned before whether to go back for more therapy but there is nothing I don't already know that a therapist could tell me. I believe it is my OCD trying to weaken me. I know what to do, I just need to repeat it in my life. Like I said I'm a lot better, if I keep going I believe I will get to the stage I want to be at.

Edited by Lish
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Ah yes, I saw this at the time, it's an old article. If it's any consolation think the guys been widely discredited in the psychology circles I tend to mix in :)   Equally if there was anything in this, it would have come about in the three years since.

File this in the 'I read this, don't agree' locker. :)

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The article contrasts psychodynamic therapy with CBT. Psychodynamic therapy explores the early experiences of life and how they impact upon the present. The original thinker of this theory was Freud who developed psychoanalysis. There are now various versions of psychoanalysis along with attachment theory/therapy which uses a little part of Freudism with other elements.

This is very different from CBT which does not address the experiences of the past to solve the problems of the present.

It is interesting - but not unexpected - that the article does not point to any research on the success rates of any theory/therapy. Indeed, I am not aware of any device such as questionnaires which are used to measure success rates, such as much lower scores of distress, in the case of psychodynamic therapies. Does anybody know any?

Edited by Angst
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The Daily Mail has (in the past) been a major contribution to my anxiety but since I've realised that a lot of what they publish is usually hysterical scaremongering based on distorted information I just automatically discredit it now. I just wish I'd learned that years ago! :;

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2 hours ago, leil said:

The Daily Mail has (in the past) been a major contribution to my anxiety but since I've realised that a lot of what they publish is usually hysterical scaremongering based on distorted information I just automatically discredit it now. I just wish I'd learned that years ago! :;

Amen to that. ?

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