I’ve just been trying to sign up for CBT to help me to manage my cognitive skills and fatigue that is currently proving a challenge due to extra emotional stress in my life.
Has anyone had success in using this?
thanks very much
Luce - feeling pretty down with my lot at the moment
Hi Lucy, CBT (Congnitive Behaviour Therapy) can be an enormous help. It’s not sitting talking about stuff that happened when you were 5 years old… but it’s very practical ways that can help you right here and now.
Your GP will be able to refer you for it on the NHS. So go and see your GP and get that referral.
I had a course of it before I was dx (I was mis-dx with ME), but I did find it a big help and I was able to use the tools they taught me to deal with being dx with MS. I often go back to it when I’m feeling like I can’t cope.
I think CBT is a really useful tool to use, helping to challenge and change unhealthy thought patterns. That in turn will have a positive effect on your emotional wellbeing & stress etc. If things like stress and worry are contributing to your physical symptoms then hopefully you’ll see an improvement with those things, though that’s not a given. I took part in a study on it funded by the MS Society and found it helpful for depression. I don’t remember that it necessarily improved my physical health, but I definitely felt better emotionally.
CBT works! No question about it. What it really does is help you to think about things from a different perspective - and in turn do the things that the others above have said. just how much you get out will depend on how much effort you put in, of course.
Just note that there is a technique called NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) that is really to be avoided at all costs (Google it and you will see why). NLP is sometimes offered by contractors as a form of CBT, but I would describe it as something quite different (I once saw a statement in some stuff on NLP which went: “The himan mind is NOT broken, and we will help you fix it”). Some HR people have been known to use NLP contractor to lecture the staff that they are responsible for as a way of offering “Staff Development”.