Posted by TaiChi2 on June 30, 2006, at 6:42:29 [reposted on July 2, 2006, at 2:57:55 | original URL]
Many of you, like myself, may have a complex history of antidepressant medication: lots of failures, then some limited successes followed by poop out. With each round, options become more and more complicated, side effects increase, and the probability of 100% healing decreases (at least in my experience).
I am now trying the rubber band technique, mentioned in Burns' book, Feeling Good. This is a simple practice where you snap a rubber band, worn around the wrist, whenever you have a distorted or negative thought. It turns out that a practice like this is almost as effective as disputing the thoughts! It's a cognitive therapy technique with minimal effort. I observed an almost instantaneous improvement in my mood. Standard cognitive therapy methods never worked well for me.
So far it is allowing me to stay on my current medication regimen, which is pretty important, since my next set of antidepressant options are limited and scarier.
poster:TaiChi2
thread:663422
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060623/msgs/663422.html