Understanding CBT

-
It's a pity we don't have a mental Olympics. Maybe people around us would be happier to acknowledge the work that goes into recovery if there was, since such tangible demonstrations seem crucial to understanding and acceptance. But that's a whole other discussion. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

 CBT has been shown to improve the mental health of patients who worked with it, even to the extent of symptoms disappearing, as opposed to patients who haven't worked with it. It is especially helpful in case of PTSD and depression, and is based on a few key assumptions:

Source: Overcoming Trauma and PTSD, Sheela Raja

Emotions are not all that easy to change, but changing thoughts and behaviours have an effect on emotions.

Depression, anxiety, and recovering from trauma can all be extremely paralytic. Despite wanting to get up and achieve things - be it brushing your teeth or getting some exercise done, or finishing all the work that's piled up - you may not be able to even move. 

It can feel like a crushing weight - mental, or even a weight on your body - that's keeping you from moving. CBT approaches will allow you to break down those goals into tiny steps, reducing the perceived amount of effort you will need to complete each step. Back when I was starting CBT, I used to constantly repeat "one step at a time" to myself. For me, the most important thing is to focus on a single step alone. If I let my thoughts stray towards the bigger picture - or even to two steps, I would lose my focus and panic and exhaustion would overwhelm me. 

And it takes time. It takes practice. I may not have practiced a single sport my whole life, but mental athletics like this is just as exhausting and requires just as much perseverance. 

It's a pity we don't have a mental Olympics. Maybe people around us would be happier to acknowledge the work that goes into recovery if there was, since such tangible demonstrations seem crucial to understanding and acceptance. But that's a whole other discussion. 

The first time you try holding one step in your mind, motivating yourself to just complete that step, it may feel herculean. Your thoughts may stray to the big picture almost immediately. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Leave an opinion!

Popular posts from this blog

Throwback: Waltzing to the Tune of Rhetoric

-
Written September 7, 2010 A dark series of squiggles make their way down and across the page, in that order. Cheap poetry and lame jokes are the order of the day. For once the silence has retreated and is content to watch from the top row of the bleachers. For once there's no raining on the court while the ball's in play. There's a rose that lies at the back of my locker, wilted and fading away. It's a rose I don't expect to see in bloom again. It's a rose I've put aside, but one I cannot bear to throw away. Perhaps I should consign it to the bonfire I've made in my backyard, out of all the relics from the past. Perhaps keeping it in my locker is dangerous, for it might bloom again. Roses such as this one have been known to bloom more beautiful than before, long long after they withered away into nothing more than thin brown sticks and faded and detached petals. And in my excitement, I might just reach out and grab it again, forgetting th
Read more

Sweet Summer Child: A Love Letter

-
Image
Photo by  Petr Ovralov  on  Unsplash Written December 9, 2016 I am not a gifting person. Years ago, someone suggested I write them something about love as a gift instead. I made many starts, completed nothing. Perhaps happiness doesn't inspire me the way sorrow does. Then last year came the first and only love letter I've ever written. Does it mean more if you write letters? May I? Dearest. When I met you, the only taste I remembered any more was the taste of ashes in my mouth. When I met you, the sun had cracked open, and loss was everywhere.  When I met you, you were a shadow, hidden among shadows, a nervous joke whispered on the winds of my thoughts.  When I met you, I was looking for a friend.  Then I met you, and the sun rose again, whole and healthier than before.  I met you, and the joke turned to undying laughter on my lips.  I met you, and I knew longing again, my soul unable to bear its weight.  I did not know you existed, and in the wee hours o
Read more

Review: Vampire Academy #2 - Frostbite

-
Image
Crossposting from Feminist Quill, written July 22, 2015 Book Title:  Frostbite Author:  Richelle Mead Year of Publication:  2008 Series:  Vampire Academy #:  2 Goodreads Rating (Avg.):  4.31 Goodreads Rating (Mine):  5 Plot Description:  The sequel to  Vampire Academy  picks up a few months after the first, showing a new stage in Rose's guardian training. Running away from the school for two years had meant that she spent the first book trying to catch up with her classmates, and  Frostbite  opens with her Qualifier exam - one which requires an external guardian to evaluate her progress. As her mentor, it seems Dimitri was able to get her an interview with one of the most legendary guardians around, and as a bonus, this means Rose gets to roadtrip alone with her crush. Her cute triumph at having scored ten hours of being alone with him soon dovetails neatly with tragedy - a Strigoi attack at their destination. And with that, Mead begins to unravel the clean cut rul
Read more