Posted by mattdds on December 29, 2003, at 14:29:35
In reply to Re: Therapist Orientation? CBT or psychodynamic? » mattdds, posted by Speaker on December 29, 2003, at 8:57:21
> Matt,
>
> I hope you hang on for a while for some of us that are new to this board. I too have CBT for several years and it has been a life saver and I have grown a great deal.That's great! So glad you were helped by it. It has been a lifesaver for me as well.
>I now have to change T and am trying to find out what would be best to try this time. However, I have felt CBT is a good fit for me and can't imagine another approach. I have PTSD and have worked through several trauma events...the easier ones - husbands death, killing a child that ran in front of my car and a few others.
Wow, it's hard for me to imagine all this happening to me. It's amazing that you got through it, and are doing better now.
>I am now approaching the most difficult that happened when I was quite young. This has been difficult to even approach and talking has come very slow for me.
I wish you luck as you face your most difficult issues. I'm confident that if you've come this far, you will be able to make even more progress.
>I guess I am being selfish but your input has been very good and maybe a few of us that are successful with CBT should hang around.
Thank you for that! I get just as much from posting as I do from the input I receive. The problem I have with the board is not the people who post, but with the direction the threads seem to take as they progress.
For example, I've noticed that with threads dealing with all things psychodynamic (or neo-Freudian), e.g. dreams, transference, therapist issues, and especially meds (on the other board), posters receive a flood of constructive input. Follow-up posts usually contain supportive advice about what meds work for a condition, how to navigate transference, what to do about a therapist issue, etc.
But for some reason, when it comes to cognitive therapy, we can't even seem to get past the question of whether it's effective! Meanwhile, nobody questions the validity or foundations of psychodynamic theory or the biological theories about mental illness. the threads seem to take the form of "here is what works" or "here is what the literature says". They're supportive. So far, I haven't found the CBT threads to be that. To put it bluntly, they tend to get quite heated at worst, and politely argumentative, at best.
I envisioned some type of forum where CBT issues will be the same. For example, someone might post if they are stuck working through a persistent negative thought or behavior, and the follow ups might suggest which CBT technique helped them. I thought it would be neat to have something practical like that.
>I have found everyone to be very supportive here but I have only been posting about six weeks.
There are some very smart, and caring people here. I find the board very supportive, in general. But for my very specific need (to discuss and relate CBT issues). I feel we get into, very subtle, yet definite "arguments" about CBT. My posting style may encourage this, and I usually wind up getting defensive, and then giving up. I wasn't really looking for a debate forum, I had enough of that in high school. I'm looking for an environment where people are already convinced about CBT, and want to *practice* it.
I know the whole board shouldn't change to accomodate my one need, and I jokingly suggested splitting it. But I was being sarcastic, because I knew there weren't enough that would post there.
So, I'm not "leaving". I'll probably just check the board every once in a while and jump in if I find something interesting to me. But I feel no animosity toward anyone. I lost my energy to debate.
If you have anything you'd like to discuss, a particular problem, just direct a thread to me. I'll look for it.
Best,
Matt
poster:mattdds
thread:293462
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20031221/msgs/294360.html