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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by rianny on February 10, 2004, at 15:37:44
I have social anxiety and OCD problem, and I'm on 0.5mg of Klonopin per day. I still get panic attacks, but I'd like to try CBT and meditation (like yoga) before increasing dosage.
Btw, is CBT something that I can do by myself with instructions book or do I need any assistance?
So, please recommend me good books about CBT and meditation (yoga would be fine).
=)
Posted by badhaircut on February 12, 2004, at 7:56:48
In reply to A book about CBT and meditation, posted by rianny on February 10, 2004, at 15:37:44
I think the 2002 book "Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression" by Zindel Segal (& others) would be worth looking at, even though it addresses depression more than anxiety. Most of the meditative/CBT techniques in it would apply across the board to anxiety as well. It gives a detailed, step-by-step approach complete with pages you can photocopy. The authors are serious psychologists (not the latest bestseller cure-alls). They talk about their own experiences beginning meditation and whether you can do meditation-and-CBT on your own. They say you can, and their book details how, although they advise getting a good meditation coach. (THAT could be challenging!)
A main thrust of their meditative approach to depression is disrupting the obsessive ruminating depressives (and anxious people!) get so good at. Also, they encourage more bodily awareness and viewing your thoughts & emotions as *events* -- not as being *you*.
The book also presents the results of the authors' study of how a CBT-meditation combination could help depressed people, but the research had design holes big enough to drive a truck through, so that aspect was disappointing.
In general, however, I think the best self-help presentation of CBT for *anxiety* is the 150 pages on anxiety in the middle chapters of David Burns' "The Feeling Good Handbook". He doesn't talk about meditative techniques, though.
You can certainly do CBT techniques on your own. Depending on where you live, I think it might be even more challenging to find a committed cognitive-behavior therapist than to find a meditation coach.
-bhc
Posted by Medusa on February 13, 2004, at 6:00:21
In reply to A book about CBT and meditation, posted by rianny on February 10, 2004, at 15:37:44
> So, please recommend me good books about CBT and meditation (yoga would be fine).
>
> =)Hey there Rianny, my 'therapy team' recommended Stephen Gilligan's _The Courage to Love_.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393702472/Here's Gilligan's site:
http://www.stephengilligan.comRight now I'm finding the book tough reading ... not the words, but I'm really resistant to his new (to me) very non-clinical terminology for things. Life is a river that runs through my inner tender spot??????!!!!! The new-agey touchy-feely stuff is interspersed with solid insights, so I'm going to keep slogging through.
If you do read this book, let me know ... it would be a lot easier for me to read if discussion were a possibility.
Posted by sjb on February 24, 2004, at 14:42:07
In reply to A book about CBT and meditation, posted by rianny on February 10, 2004, at 15:37:44
This is the end of the thread.
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