The Mental Illness Thread

[Saxmoof]

I'm sceptical about therapy for the very depressed, like detailed above. CBT basically boils down to positive thinking, if you're as hopeless as I was that just feels pointless, and therapy can't work if you don't buy into it - it took me 6 years to feel like therapy was something that could help. And with severe social anxiety, you don't even want to leave the house let alone sit and talk to a stranger for an hour

(veteran of many years of CBT and DBT here)

While I wouldn't characterize CBT as just "positive thinking", you do raise some very good and interesting points.  When one is embroiled in a serious episode of MI, oftentimes, one is simply unable to participate in therapy in any effective way - and certainly, if one doesn't buy into it, it isn't going to be effective.

I'm over 6 years into my current round of therapy, and I definitely was too sick to make any progress at all the first couple of years.

I wouldn't want to discourage anyone, though - in my case, it's ended up being worth it.

Therapy has been helpful for me aswell so far, it's just that the analysis of my "bad" thoughts hasn't helped like it's supposed to. What's really been good for me is having someone to encourage/coach me through doing things that make me anxious and having someone I can be comfortable with and confide in, someone I know is understanding and supportive

Having my anxious thoughts affirmed as being irrational doesn't help for me - I know they're irrational, that still doesn't get rid of them or make them easier to ignore. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone through exposure therapy does though