Types of therapy

[fefee]

Hi GUYS 

This is not ocd so much but maybe you can point me in the right direction OR explain different therapist qualifications to me 

I had ocd and ive done my cbt and Im fine with that side but Im struggling with now a constant fear of my friends not liking me , its overwhelming and constant on my mind so have returned to therapy to get help with this last bit .  Im seeing a DR MA(HONS) chartered psychologist and says she primarily uses cbt .

so far we have re-visted my childhood and early adult hood which has been extremely painful , I was bullied in the past by my sister, and co workers , alot of friends treated me very badly as well hence why i have such a issues with friends now ! I very aware of this  link and talking about it is very painful on top of whats going on in the present . 

My question is , has anyone had this type of therapy and benefited ?

Is their a benefit to talking about the past , why do therapists do it for ? 

It definitely feels no benefit at the moment just feeling worse 

thanks for any advice offered 

[Ashley]

I am not sure if you need CBT for this type of issue or if more regular counselling might be more appropriate (and cheaper). I guess it depends if this issue interlinks with other issues like OCD.

There may be some benefit about talking about the past, always worth exploring, but as a general rule not for weeks at a time, so if that's a therapists only approach to the problem I tend to be a little sceptical about that kind of approach. 

(as it's not OCD related I will move shortly to the more general area of the forum).

[Isthisreality]

I would personally never advice anyone with OCD to use talk-therapy to overcome OCD. Never ever. 

Overcome OCD and then talk about your past if you like to. If even then.

[fefee]

Thanks Ashley thats good to know .

Isthisreailty

I have overcome ocd , my issue now is im always worrying my friends dont like me 

[Isthisreality]

You are giving mixed messages. I think it could be OCD

[gingerbreadgirl]

I don't think this sounds like OCD - the OP says she has overcome her OCD. 

That said maybe CBT would be helpful with this kind of fear - addressing automatic thoughts etc?

[Isthisreality]

This bit makes me suspicious "I had ocd and ive done my cbt and Im fine with that side but Im struggling with now a constant fear of my friends not liking me , its overwhelming and constant on my mind so have returned to therapy to get help with this last bit"

 

And i have had the exakt same thing, ruminating about my past. In either case would i personally not recommend talk-therapy, i don't think it has much use. It have shown effect with narcissism but i haven't seen much beside that. 

I could be wrong and it could be that she needs to go through this. Then i would recommend something else than talk-therapy

Edited May 4, 2018 by Isthisreality

[snowbear]

10 hours ago, fefee said:

Is their a benefit to talking about the past , why do therapists do it for ? 

Hi feefee,

There are two reasons for talking about the past in the context of CBT:

1. to make you aware of how your past experiences influence your current thinking so you can make different behavioural choices in the present based on this awareness

2. to revisit trauma and cognitively re-frame it (lay it to rest.) 

Both are beneficial. 

Bringing up past issues is painful at first because you approach them using the same thinking you've always used and that thinking led you to a painful conclusion.

As you become more aware of where that thinking is flawed and distorted, and as you practise thinking in more beneficial ways, the emotional response you have to recalling past events changes so they no longer cause you the same degree of pain. 

It's one of those things there's no short cut to and where a lot of practise is needed to break the habit of automatically thinking about things the way you've always related to them before. But once you've mastered the cognitive changes more beneficial behaviours become your new autopilot response. And even on the odd occasion when they aren't you're able to see yourself reacting the old way and consciously choose to change your thinking on the spot. That's a good place to be and well worth all the effort.  

[InOverMyHead]

Hey FeeFee sounds a lot like Social Anxiety to me, there is      info if you type it into google  hope this helps and points you towards good help xxx