inside/outside

[the_siobhan]

It snowed today on my way to work. And my house is freezing. the_axel and I are actually both off work at the same time for a few days this week, I anticipate spending all of it hanging plastic and sealing cracks.

Operation Get All This Crap Out Of Here has resulted in a clear view of both the top of my desk and the office floor. And quite possibly a buttload of stuff on Ebay right in time for Christmas.

Finally got around to replacing one of the books on cognitive therapy that J borrowed off me. Cracked the cover and started doing some of the exercises today. It's written in a language that always makes me roll my eyes, but hey, it worked pretty well last time so it's worth a try.

Call it Operation Get All This Crap Out Of Here Part II.

Comments

[forlorn99.livejournal.com]

I have alot of respect for cognitive therapy. My experience with it has been largely positive despite a few frightening mishaps along the way. Of course that's all part of the process and I've grown and developed as a result so yay for being frightened!

Good luck with it!

=-)

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Growth good. Although I keep telling myself that one day I'll take on an incarnation that involves a little less work...

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Our house is freezing too, at least on the top two floors. We're gonna be putting plastic over all the windows too.

Coupla questions:

1) What sorta stuff are you ebaying? If it's books or music, lemme know.

2) What is cognitive therapy and how does it work?

CT in the house

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Mostly clothes - if I any books or music get filtered through the purge, I'll let you know.

My very simplified understanding of how cognitive therapy works:

Most people maintain two "tracks" of thought in their head at all times. One is the obvious one that goes on in the front and is actively engaged in things like having conversations, planning your actions, learning, reading, etc.

The second "track" goes on in the background. It's not subconcious, but it tends to receive less attention because it's involved in maintenance things like monitoring your environment, including other people. But that track talks to you in the background and if you pay attention to it you can hear what it's telling you.

In cases of depression or anxiety it can be telling you a lot of negative things - that what you are about to do is scary, that your friends don't really like you, that you are fat, ugly, dumb, etc, etc, etc. A lot of the times it's the voice that repeats things our parents say.

Cognitive therapy develops techniques for bringing that voice into the foreground, figuring out what it's telling you and retraining it. Thought processes are very susceptable to habit, and this "second track" particularily so - the exercises in question are intended to help the user break down the old habits and build new ones.

I stumbled across CT when I was researching the anti-depressants my doc gave me. There are stats that show that cognitive therapy has better long-term results than drug therapy. Doing some simple stuff worked well for me last time so I figured maybe spending more time on it would kill this brain-fungus once and for all.

Re: CT in the house

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. Those pernicious voices in the back of your head. *wry look*

I've got a fair amount of that going on myself. You know that fantastic memory I have? It isn't always a good thing to have a brain that hangs onto everything.

I also like the sound of a therapy that gives you tools. I've thought about going into therapy, but I was never sure how it was supposed to work. I tell the therapist all my issues and icky childhood stuff, and he/she does what with it? To it? Waves a magic wand and makes it go away?

If you can recommend a book or two, I wouldn't mind reading up on CT.

Re: CT in the house

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Well, I read a bunch of things by Aaron Beck, who came up with the original techniques. Pretty much anything by him that explains first principles.

The exercises I'm doing are from The Feeling Good Handbook (http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452281326/qid=1100357161/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/702-1782325-8770434) by Burns. I'll warn you, the text is just as annoying as the title. I would have picked it up, rolled my eyes and dropped again without a second thought if several people hadn't recommended it to me. Having said that, the exercises are useful if you can get past the golly-gee-whiz language.

[zero-gravity.livejournal.com]

hmmm...
i was going to aske about the cognitive therapy as well. Never heard of it. Now that i have a dedicated "house husband" the place is pretty much spotless. And ... amazing as it is to believe, he managed to pop the freaking windows into the apartment before the first snow. Get Ax to tell you the story of he and i trying to put in the storm windows in a snow storm.

i've never actually done the e-bay thing, but often think of it. there is enough crap around to sell.

CT in the house

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

See my long response to Steph. :-) There's also a basic explanation on the Beck Institute site (http://www.beckinstitute.org/training/q&a.htm).

I think the reason I like it so much is because the focus is so very much on doing something. Therapies where I sit around and talk about my childhood make me want to pull my forebrain out my nostrils with a fork. Ones that go, "Right, here's your problem, and here's your stick. Get to work." - I like that.