I am revisiting Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - bought a workbook and it arrives tomorrow

Once you learn some of the basic techniques of CBT, you can incorporate them into your life and not even think about it. Probably lots of us on DL use CBT.

E.g., your thoughts are just thoughts.

Thanks, r1. I wasn't sure if I should go for the DBT instead, since i tested slightly within the BPD zone. Depression is the biggest thing for me right now and has pretty much rendered me bedridden so I thought I would start with CBT.

Great start - it really helped my sister once she became really committed to doing it. Best of luck!

Thank you, r1 and r3! I just really need to do something...it's been months and drinking myself to passing out every other night doesn't help and makes me feel more like a loser.

What book did you get, OP? I liked Richard Carlson's "You Can Feel Good Again." You might be able to find it in a library. Now you've got me wanting to read that book again.

Good for you OP. I should be doing the same thing. CBT is very effective.

r5 - I got " The Comprehensive Clinician's Guide to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" by Leslie Sokol. I got this one because it's a workbook with exercises and there were reviews from non-clinicians/end users that were very positive. I find writing exercises to be very helpful, but am not a journaler.

OP, maybe try "The Artists' Way" as well. Good luck on your journey.

I think I need something like this too. Has anyone heard anything about Retrain Your Brain by Seth Gillihan. It's cheaper, but maybe the Sokol one is better. Don't really know.

I'll take a look at it when I receive it, and if it seems too advanced, I may send it back. I'm glad I have all of these with backup suggestions. :)

It's a good start, but at some point you'll need guidance to uncover your blind spots. Cognitive restructuring is a lot about noticing and documenting dysfunctional thought patterns, so getting familiar with cognitive biases in general (and for you in particular) and your automated negative thinking will bring you a good bit forward.

I recommend taking up a regular and consistent practice of mindfulness meditation as well (use guided meditations on YouTube), this will help you train your introspection. You need to be sensitive to negative thinking when it occurs in order to question its truth-value und helpfulness.

OP, I realize it's much, much easier said than done, but you should really try cutting out alcohol, if only for a time. Trust me, I've sought solace in the bottle on many a night, but after years of doing it had finally had enough. It almost immediately lifted a lot of my anxiety and negative thinking.

There’s the gold standard “Feeling Good” by I think Dr. David Burns. Good luck!

That's what i used all those years ago, r13! I'm going to check my library and see if i still have it!

r12 - one of the ideas around getting this book/workbook is to substitute reading/activity for the drinking, so i'm with you on that.

r11 - i recall some of my exercises in the CBT study groups and some of the techniques surrounding capturing negative thinking. I'll be re-visiting how to "catch myself in the act" so I can stop the thought when it occurs (i.e. rubber band snapping on wrist or whatever else, i'm sure there are newer, more positive stop techniques).

If you're getting drunk every night, here's some excellent, free, psychological advice from a guy who knows ZERO about psychology or therapy: stop drinking and you will immediately regain powerful control over the emotional tenor of your life. It works like magic.

^^r15 I already said upthread I'm attempting to substitute the work in the CBT workbook for drinking :)

thanks :)

I love doing CBT to others but not to myself as my balls too sensitive.

Good on you, OP, for taking this first step!

I did CBT back in the early 90s to treat depression in my late teens and early twenties, but I’m really not a fan any more. My periodic depressions had their roots in insecure attachment issues and early emotional development trauma, which I ended up successfully addressing through parts work (not Internal family systems but hypnotherapy based), IPF attachment repair, and various body based modalities. I am a fan of Jeffrey Young’s schema therapy which can be considered an offshoot of and further development of CBT.

R19, part of the therapeutic process is good diagnostics, developing a robust model of the disorder, and choosing therapeutic techniques accordingly. You are completely right that some issues are better addressed by certain therapeutic approaches, like Schema Therapy, DBT, CBASP, or ACT.

I'm glad that you found the right vehicle for getting better. :)

You don’t have to accept advice predicated on the untrained non-alcoholic’s opinion that quitting those nightly drinks is easy peasy and magically, immediately makes life better. It can be BEASTLY hard. Which is all the more reason to do it! And it DOES get better but it’s no miracle. What resumes is just real life. As hard as it ever was only now you can’t self medicate.

Thanks, r20. Back in the late 80s and early 90s CBT was the dominant therapeutic paradigm (at least for depression, though not limited to that. (I even went to watch Albert Ellis lecture a few times in New York.). About four years ago I decided to finally address these long standing issues but I had been away from the field for so long, and I was astounded by how many new therapeutic approaches had arisen, including those you'd mentioned, as well as EMDR and all these innovative somatic approaches for treating complex childhood trauma

Thanks r20, r22 and r21.

I've done EMDR about 4 years ago for some trauma that happened to me (sexual assault, being homeless, fleeing from wildfires). It was somewhat helpful. I appreciate all the suggestions and am going to start with the CBT workbook. I am not excluding adding on or moving on as necessary.

Regarding the drinking...i've had several periods lasting up to 2 years a piece over the past 12 years, so I know I can do it again. I'm not 12-stepping (not that there's anything wrong with that for other people). I just really need to address some underlying issues. One of them is attachment disorder as mentioned upthread.

Appreciate all the feedback! I'm going out to take my dog for a walk. That's something else I'm trying to incorporate daily to help out.

It helps so much

Thank you, r24! It's been quite awhile since I went out and enjoyed a walk: smelling the flowers and blossoming trees, listening to the birds. It was really nice. I may go out again later as well :)

Thanks R11. That’s helpful

I'm kind of interested in that Sokol workbook now.

r27 I'll let you know what my first impressions are tomorrow