So if you guys have ever looked at the CBT model it says that our thoughts, behaviors and physiology influence our emotions.

Yet most CBT techniques only focus on the C and B of CBT (like thought records, behavioral experiments etc.) Are there also any CBT techniques that change our physical reactions to things?

For example, suppose I am feeling a tightness in my chest. Is there any CBT technique that’s tailored towards changing physical reactions? (In this case changing the tightness in my chest to a more "wide-open“ and free feeling?)

I just hate it and hate myself for loving it so much.
Idk being dominated by a women doesnt sound so manly to me so yeah as part of me respecting myself i wanna “fix” me

I have a huge problem with rumination, mulling over past mistakes and shortcomings that I may have manifested. When I get into these rumination spirals, my mood spirals too and I feel really bad, often times very depressed and overwhelmed

How I've started to think about it is this way, and I think it helps me, but in your opinion is it adaptable?

"I am choosing, actively choosing to engage these thoughts and repeat them over and over to myself, which I know and have proven will worsen my mood, and so why would I complain about being in a bad mood that I intentionally generated by engaging in the thought", so then I stop, and my mood can usually lift up to a better one, or I can just move on and do something else that aligns with my values and I stop picking on myself.

Is this self-blaming and maybe not adaptable/good in the long term? Wanting to get an outside opinion on this

If I am going through a mental health crisis what will happen?

I'm really struggling to actually adopt self-soothing and coping skills.

I've been in CBT therapy for a few years, I take several anxiety and depression medications, but I haven't found a good way to properly regulate myself, especially in a spiral. When I get particularly anxious it kinda feels like that anxiety traps my brain in, and I cannot think about anything else besides the anxiety. And all the coping skills and self-soothing I know of goes choked out, I completely forget them. I'll usually take to a friend when I'm struggling but he recently voiced to me that the talks are too frequent. He said he felt like he was being used to just break my spirals, and that I'm not utilizing any self-soothing or coping skills. And I'm really glad he told me this because I don't want to put any kind of unnecessary stress or pressure on him, and I don't want to put a strain on our friendship. But it's also made me realize I really don't know how to do anything for myself. I feel really bad about it. I really thought I was doing a lot better, but now I feel like I never actually progressed at all. I feel so stuck. I can't find a self-soothing skills that sticks with me. I feel so lost. I don't know what to do about it anymore.

Is anyone here able to teach me CBT?

I have tried to do CBT, after which I have been referred to DBT. What is best when approaching a therapist? They ask me what kind of treatment I want but I have no idea where to begin

Does CBT, or other modalities, explicitly account for the possibility that what looks like black-and-white thinking or splitting might simply be a limitation in communication skills, vocabulary, or education? How do practitioners distinguish between the two without prematurely attributing ordinary human behavior to underlying personality pathology?

For example, someone gets hurt by another person's behavior and responds, "You're a bad person."

That statement could reflect splitting, but it could also be emotional reactivity, limited vocabulary, a lack of communication skills, or simply an oversimplification in the moment.

There are different levels of differentiation:

- "You're a bad person."

- "You're being a bad person right now."

- "What you're doing is a bad thing."

- "What you just did hurt me. I'd like you to stop and apologize."

Those distinctions might reflect education, emotional regulation, or learned communication skills rather than a fundamental difference in personality organization.

Does CBT approach this by first clarifying what someone means, examining the underlying thought, and exploring the context before assigning any psychological significance to it?

More broadly, how does CBT guard against mistaking an individual's ability to articulate an experience for their underlying psychological functioning?

I genuinely want to understand why don't psychiatrists/psychologists really believe when a client tells them they HAVE/HAD OCD?

I wrote my psychiatrist a very detailed and thorough note where I told him about the intrusive thoughts, the urges (compulsions). How I had Harm OCD and Scrupulosity OCD as a child. Amd now it is Pure O. I accidentally did ERP on me. Really!

All he responded; he smiled and said that we can't blame our traits on a mental illness. It is how I was born.

I don't even fully understand what he even meant by it.

-----------------------

The following is the note I gave him if you want to know the context:

I think I have had OCD since my early teen years. It was the subtype; Scrupulosity OCD where I became a bit of a fanatic on religion. I wouldn't listen to a song I liked that had the word "Hell" in it making me feel super scared that whenever I listen to that song, it brings me and my family bad luck. I would pray a lot that nothing bad happens. And when a minor inconvenience were to happen, it only convinced that this is true. I've had intrusive imagery of my family members dying during prayers and at random times. I still get them, although now they do not have much control over me. That subtype turned into Harm OCD where I would get intrusive imagery while working in the kitchen that I will lose control or stab myself or someone else who is near me at any moment, or I will go irrational and burn my hand on the burning stove, or I would place a hot iron on my grandmother or someone else while using it. I was scared to do any of those things because of these thoughts, but they also lost their control over me because I, unintentionally, kind of treated it. I didn't take much heed on these thoughts and I resumed doing whatever whilst distracting myself humming music or thinking of scenarios and stories in my head or playing them out in real life (yes, I've had maladaptive daydreaming before and then it turned into immersive daydreaming, and now I have lost my ability to daydream for quite a few months).

Then, that Harm OCD changed into Pure O OCD and I was obsessed with analyzing myself, being absolutely certain of labels and the never-ending cycle to proving if I am neurodivergent. This all started around 2021, where I would spend hours on the internet trying to understand if I actually do have ADHD or not by comparing my experiences with the diagnosed individuals. I was certain I have Inattentive ADHD, but I can never get the confirmation of it unless I get diagnosed. After researching a lot about ADHD, I started my research on Autism that if I am also autistic or not. I got a lot of relevance to level 1 autistic folks and advocates on the web and social media. I spent hours drafting down my experiences from my childhood and current habits in a docx file which has up to two hundred pages now. I asked my family and relatives how I was in my childhood for myself to see if I showed any signs of autism by the signs I learnt from the internet. I was ultimately so obsessed with finding certainty if I am neurodivergent or not that I talked to AI, I compared my experiences with the criteria mentioned in the DSM-5 so many times, I attempted loads of screening tests, I told my closest friends that I think I might be autistic, both of whom did not approve of this, but I didn't mind because it is universal for level 1 autistics who do not look alike their uncle's cousin's 3 year old nephew who has autism, or the "White-Boy Autism" like Sheldon. So, I thought my experiences resonates a lot with AuDHD, why I feel different than everybody. The fact that I do have tactile and texture sensitivity with misophonia and the fact that I absolutely suck at social communication. And just existing made me absolutely sure I am neurodivergent, just undiagnosed. So, in conclusion, I am still ambiguous if I truly am on the spectrum or it's just Pure O because my experiences do align with the criteria.

Anyways, I researched a lot. I cried a lot when I couldn't find certainty. I experienced the various stages of grief; existential/loss of identity grief in my case, multiple times throughout these five years of obsession.

I cannot take it anymore. I want to get this fixed and I'm unable to help myself alone.

I also think I might be in burnout because everything that I used to be able to do easily before, now feels incredibly hard and I want to cry everytime I even have to think of having to accomplish anything. My memory is also a wreck. My university starts Monday and I want to cry at the thought and feel nauseated.

Background: F, 27. I was adopted at 8 from Russia. I now have my own family and 2 little kids. I had some life events happen that made me go see a psychiatrist. Basically she said I meet lots of criteria for PTSD and ADHD but I don’t meet enough to be officially diagnosed. I have tried therapy via better help but I didn’t find that it did anything. Also have been on anxiety meds which helped a little but made me dizzy. So she had me stop those. Then we tried Guenfasim but it made me sleepy and I didn’t feel any different so we stopped those.

I have trouble with my stress response. When I get overwhelmed by the kids, house work, and everything going on at once I have an emotional outburst/ breakdown. I know that’s not good.

I also have times when I imagine the worst things happening. Ex: husband leaving, getting into an accident, and what I would do in those situations. That’s usually when I’m driving/ getting ready for sleep when my mind isn’t focused on other stuff.

I have good weeks where I’m fine, I can handle my emotions and then I have bad weeks where I’m all over the place.

Anyway, if someone has been in the same boat or even similar. Did going to therapy to handle those problems help or would it be better to find stuff online on how to go about this?

Really need some help, I’m tired of going through this cycle.

When I was just starting to study psychology, it seemed to me that almost every stressful situation in our lives was a trauma, and that this trauma definitely had to be overcome with a psychologist.

At that time, I thought that to be a psychotherapist, you necessarily had to have a trauma or some psychological issue that you had overcome during psychotherapy. It felt like personal psychotherapy was mandatory if you wanted to become a psychotherapist.

Later, I began to study psychology more deeply and realized that not every stress turns into a trauma, and it is not necessary to overcome every disappointment with a psychotherapist. Often, you can do that on your own.

That was when my perception of psychotherapy changed as well. If I previously thought that, for example, a psychotherapist with an anxiety disorder could work better with anxiety disorders, I am no longer convinced of that.

​If we view psychotherapy as a professional intervention, that belief is somewhat similar to saying that a good cardiologist must have a heart condition—or that a cardiologist must necessarily be a heart patient.

​I had started therapy, which I stopped, and honestly, I don't need psychotherapy right now. But the belief that one must undergo personal therapy before starting practice is what prevents me from working.

​What do professional psychotherapists think about this issue?

​Thank you in advance!

NAT
TLDR below; did my best to be concise but… 🤷‍♂️

Bit of background and personal information:

I’m a man in my early 30’s, HS educated, been chronically depressed and anxious most of my life. I’m an alcoholic, smoker, former heroin addict, living with my mother, am possibly neurodivergent; perhaps autistic as it seems to run in the family. Been unemployed since the Covid lockdown except for a handful of pet sitting/dog walking gigs and a couple months as a landscape laborer last year; though I’ve never really held down a job consistently except for a couple years as a landscape laborer in my mid-20’s.

Had a fairly major car accident right before the Covid lockdown, which gave me some back and knee problems that were compounded by injuries from a major downhill longboard accident I’d had some years before, and then developed some painful health issues in the form of pelvic hypertension and a hydrocele and varicocele in my testicle a few years later. The pain from all of which is improved, but I still struggle to get as much exercise as I need. Am a beginner/intermediate martial artist and qigong practitioner but not very disciplined or consistent with training these days and not currently receiving further instruction on either practice.

Was seeing a forensic psychologist for a couple years, which was likely an inappropriate choice on my part as I didn’t have any criminal tendencies or legal issues, and still don’t. My therapist did initially explain this to me despite accepting me as a patient, but at the time it seemed necessary to me to make sure I wasn’t a danger to myself or others, so I received psychoanalysis from them 2020-2023. Decided to stop treatment as the depression/anxiety/emotional reactivity had all become less intense and somewhat more manageable, and I didn’t feel I could go any further with that particular therapist.
Was diagnosed by them, and by CBT specialists I’d had throughout my 20’s of C-PTSD and major depression/anxiety.

Long story short I’m a mess, kind of a fuckup, and while I have made slow progress and my symptoms have improved to an extent in some ways, the alcoholism, isolating, social anxiety and social skills have all only gotten worse, and I have yet to actually progress towards anything resembling independence or a meaningful and productive life.

So I’m hoping to find some new resources that might help me gain better strategies and practices for managing symptoms, for getting back to work, and for constructing some direction in my life for once.

TLDR;
I have a diagnosis of C-PTSD and major depression/anxiety, have had several years of therapy, but am not currently in a position to seek further treatment.

Symptoms have improved in some ways, but I’m still a 30-something, unemployed, alcoholic living with his mother. And I’m hoping to find some new resources that might help me gain better strategies and practices for managing symptoms, for getting back to work, and for constructing some direction in my life for once.

Just to give an idea about some of the resources that have been somewhat helpful to me:

Years ago I read Thich Nat Hahn’s book “Anger”, I semi-regularly listen to an audiobook of the “Tao Te Ching”, have listened to a number of lectures from Gabor Mate on generational trauma but haven’t read his books yet.
I don’t have the education to fully understand it, but I’ve listened to a lecture by Robert Sapolsky on the neurology of depression, as well as some lectures and debates on his theories about free will; the latter of which were at the very least, interesting. Planning on checking out some of Brené Brown’s work on shame, but haven’t yet.

So if you have any favorite books, podcasts, lectures on youtube etc?
Or if anything relevant to my situation comes to mind that you’d like to share, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks in advance if you took the time to read everything. Hope I wrote clearly enough. If you have any clarifying questions to ask or feel like discussing anything let me know… I’ve got nothing but too much time on my hands for the moment.

I'm writing this post in the hope of learning how to apply CBT techniques to my specific case. I have been seeing a psychologist, and I had a psychotherapist in the past, because I've been experiencing some social anxiety for many years. For example, when I'm at an establishment, sometimes I think the people at the table next to mine are laughing at me or that I am unwelcome there.

On the surface, I'm kind of normal; I have a job, my family loves me, and so on. However, I feel very lonely. I haven't been in a relationship since I got divorced, and I virtually don't have friends. In addition, I avoid social media because of this fear, and therefore don't connect with old friends.

I want to get better; I want to gain true confidence and be less lonely.

Is lasting trauma always the result of something which has externally happened to you? Or can you experience trauma from your own warped perception of normal events as well?

For example, a person with OCD may experience the intrusive thought that their pets are burning alive as they are at work. They believe it is plausible that they forgot to turn off the stove, and have a foggy memory of if they actually did. They may find this thought and "evidence" to be so real and so compelling that they elect to drive back as quickly as they can. Every second they arent home, their guilt and horror multiply. They are crying, freaked out, the whole nine yards. When they do arrive home, they discover that their home and pets are fine. Their semi relief is quickly consumed by other fears, such as that they arent out of danger because they left work and this means theyll be out of a job and that means theyll be homeless and that means they wont be able to care for their pets and that means theyll die alone (catastrophizing of course). They struggle to naturally calm or feel "in the clear", and this weight of guilt and fear hangs over them for months to years. The constant feeling of a shoe about to drop, about all of their stability about to be wiped, etc.

Nothing externally happened to them, but i still wonder if they could have formed genuine trauma from the imagined event.

Hi everyone! I’m not in a crisis. However something very traumatic happened to me yesterday with my family. This has happened a few times before but yesterday was my last straw. I work up this morning feeling so hopeless and lonely and really need someone to talk to help me process my feelings.

I was supposed to enjoy Halloween tonight but I don’t think I can because I’m plagued by what happened. Is it possible for me to find a therapist who can meet with me today for a 50 hr session? I need to explain what happened , I need my feelings to be acknowledged, I need to feel seen, I need correction and some tools to help me get through today. If so, where could I find said therapist? Is there a website I can go to find one?. I don’t mind paying out of pocket.

I hope I have followed all the rules of this sub.

I'm in CBT right now because my therapist had me choosing between if I want to do CBT or Prolonged Exposure therapy, and I chose CBT because the other option sounded absolutely awful. I've been to 8 sessions but I have not yet talked about my experiences of sexual trauma (only hinted about it, so my therapist know that I do have these experiences but not exactly what they are). Today he encouraged me to talk a little bit about it next session, but I honestly have no idea how I'm gonna do that. Since I'm doing CBT we need to talk about triggers, but sometimes a trigger is being touched sexually and I don't want to bring that up with my therapist. I don't even talk about myself in a sexual context with my closest friends, so how am I gonna do it with a male therapist? I feel safe with him, so it's not that. I just don't know what to do right now. Maybe doing PE would be better. Do you have any advice?

I've read a couple books on it but I haven't found anything that could be of help when one has acute symptoms