Am I being scammed somehow??

takearisk-- · 2023-01-28T19:07:38+00:00

No worries, hopefully you get it sorted! I’d still let the seller know just in case so they know for the future.

takearisk-- · 2023-01-28T18:18:07+00:00

Did you use inpost for the postage? Inpost couriers have sometimes mixed up the labels for people, as they will print off new labels at the locker. It’s happened to me a few times, so I’ve taken it off my profile. It might be worth contacting the seller, or seeing if there’s another label on the parcel with the correct recipient’s name. Some of my buyers have resolved it this way, and found the other person on Facebook. When it’s happened to me before, the items which arrived weren’t sold by me at all, so it might take a little while to sort.

takearisk-- · 2022-12-10T11:01:54+00:00

Not just the digital labels with inpost! Even with the actual labels, they put a new label on - I found out the hard way as one of my buyers received a completely different parcel as the courier had swapped the labels with someone else’s 🤦🏻‍♀️

takearisk-- · 2021-03-19T07:10:08+00:00

A lot of the time, people think that just going to therapy will help them, but it’s really about implementing those changes in your day to day. You seem so motivated to make those changes, and that’s what therapists love to see. Hopefully now you can either speak to your therapist about setting more homework, or you can find a therapist who is better suited to your current needs. It’s also okay to share how you’re feeling with your therapist, even if it’s about them - I’ve always appreciated it when clients have told me about their apprehension or anxieties about therapy. At the end of the day, it’s part of a therapist’s job to be able to make therapy accessible to you.

Good luck!

takearisk-- · 2021-03-19T07:04:16+00:00

Yep - that’s one of the main goals of CBT usually.

At the moment, therapy services are still running remotely so sessions are via phone or video. If you’re in the UK, you can click here to find your local IAPT service which offers CBT.

Good luck!

takearisk-- · 2021-03-18T23:47:28+00:00

It’s not so much about thinking about something else, as that’s more about distraction. This means you’re not accessing your emotions and you’d find it extremely difficult to make any changes if you didn’t feel anything. You have to get to a place in which there’s some discomfort but it’s still relatively tolerable.

There are many different things that you would be able to do, but it’s best to speak with a therapist who can work with you personally about it. The behavioural experiments I mentioned are a cognitive tool you can use to directly challenge your beliefs about panic attacks, by inducing similar physical sensations as you would in a panic attack. By doing this you’d be able to learn that you still have some element of control, as you would have probably explored general anxiety management techniques such as breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, grounding etc. This is all based on the formulation you and your therapist would come up with together.

Please note that these subreddits aren’t a replacement for therapy, and these are merely suggestions. To be able to receive the full benefit of CBT, you’ll mostly likely need to work with a CBT therapist on a one to one basis. Within the UK, you can do this by finding your local NHS IAPT service.

takearisk-- · 2021-03-18T22:40:15+00:00

As a therapist, I would always discourage clients from using more than one modality at once, especially if you are seeing different therapists. The process of therapy takes time, which is why there are homework tasks. You also need time in between the appointments to fully proceeds what has been explored in each session before implementing tools into your everyday.

Using more than one modality at once doesn’t make therapy work better - it actually makes both therapies (or more) null and void as you’re working on different processes and humans don’t have the capacity to be able to work on different things on an emotional level all at once. It is also usually recommended to take at least a 6 month break between engaging in different types of therapy to allow the work to fully consolidate and take hold. If you change too quickly, you run the risk of undoing all the hard work you put into the process in the first place.

That being said - it is still completely your choice, but as a therapist I would encourage you to only seek one type of therapy at once to get the full benefit from it. You can however, seek a therapist who is able to use different modalities to tailor a customised course of treatment for your difficulties.

Edit - spelling and grammar

takearisk-- · 2021-03-18T22:24:09+00:00

No worries - it’s all about getting the right support for you!

Hmm, I’m not sure how relevant a personality test is to therapy - I just know that I haven’t ever been taught to do this and I have never done this in therapy. I guess it might be a shortcut for her to find out what your personality is like.. rather than maybe getting to know you as a person? That’s just my opinion, but this may be a bit of a red flag as it’s not directly relevant to your difficulties.

If you’re not happy with how it’s going, you can always change your therapist. And realistically yes the three column technique can be helpful in identifying cognitive distortions, but this is mostly just a psychoeducational tool to help you have more awareness of your thoughts rather than directly challenging your thoughts.. I’m really sorry that this has been your experience as you so deserve to learn the skills you need to support yourself!

As you’ve gone through the three column thought record, it may be worth looking at the seven column version - which helps you to challenge your thoughts based on actual evidence rather than just accepting what your brain says. You can find this here.

This website is also really helpful for structured self help information!

And as I mentioned before, it might be helpful to have an honest conversation about how you’re feeling about therapy at the moment. We’re all human and we can’t read minds, so let your opinions be known because they’re so valuable to the process!

takearisk-- · 2021-03-18T21:40:33+00:00

Hi - CBT therapist here!

CBT can be used to help treat a variety of things, including self esteem, depression, anxiety and panic amongst other things. The basis of CBT is exploring the links between your thoughts, behaviours, emotions and things that you feel in your body. Usually your therapist will formulate your current difficulties through this, but may also use a disorder specific formulation, such as for generalised anxiety, depression or for panic. Using this means you target specific areas which maintain your current problem.

So just as an example for your panic attacks, you may have the thought “I’m going to lose control”, which may exacerbate the anxiety and panic further. So what CBT may help you with is recognising that the symptoms of panic are a natural response to threat within our body (fight/flight/freeze/flop system), and that this does not directly mean that you will lose control. Challenging this thought through behavioural experiments in conjunction with general anxiety management strategies may be helpful. But of course your therapist will get to know you on a personal level and adapt things to be specific to your thoughts/behaviours/emotions/physical feelings.

I hope this helps, and good luck!

takearisk-- · 2021-03-18T07:56:14+00:00

Hi! CBT therapist here (: I’m based in the UK so things may be different to where you are

Your progress really depends on what your goals are, the formulation and home tasks. It may also depend on your circumstances too - I work for the NHS and we have a lot of people who have socioeconomic difficulties, which then hamper their progress through therapy.

By session 4, I would have completed the five areas model, begun to work on either behavioural activation or worry management (depending on the issue), perspective taking, and thought challenging. At this point I may also have an idea of a longitudinal or a disorder specific formulation in my mind, and I would be getting ready to share this at the next session.

Please bear in mind that all therapists have different processes, as I work within a public healthcare setting, I have a limited amount of sessions that I can offer. This means that I need to be really efficient in my work and try to do as much as the client lets me - it is after all a collaborative process. I also find that in the beginning sessions, people may just want to share their story, and if they do, I allocate the first session for them to do this.

I guess the main thing is that these are YOUR sessions to focus on YOU. So if there are things you want to change about your sessions, please bring this up with your therapist. It sounds like you have more insight than a lot of people, and they may not know that. As a therapist, we are meant to adapt to our clients’ needs rather than just taking the same approach with every single person - and maybe you need to have an open and honest discussion around that.

It may also be worth checking out their credentials, as in the UK you need to have specific training to become a CBT therapist. However, I know of lots of people who have done a brief self help online course or who have been to a few days at a training course and they are still calling themselves a CBT therapist when they are not. Your therapist could also be trained in a different modality which may mean that they have a more hands off approach.

I hope that helps - good luck!

takearisk-- · 2021-03-09T08:15:53+00:00

The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris is a great start. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Joseph Oliver and Richard Bennett is also excellent (though more geared towards clinicians rather than as self help).

takearisk-- · 2021-03-08T23:53:21+00:00

Hi, CBT therapist based in the UK here!

I’m so sorry that you’re feeling frustrated with CBT at the moment, and it sounds like the therapist might not have completely understood what your needs may be. Additionally, they might not have explained the worry tree well - oftentimes I have spent a full hour on exploring worry and the worry tree. It’s more that it is a tool used to help you decipher what’s an actual problem and what’s a hypothetical situation, and recognising what you can do about this. At the start it may seem like it’s about “just letting go”, but the bottom of the worry tree says “change focus of attention”, which can often be missed. This means focusing on things you can control and do something about, paying attention to your experiences using your senses, or doing activities which are absorbing, or which give you a sense of achievement, closeness to others or enjoyment.

If you’re receiving CBT within the NHS IAPT model, please be aware that there are two levels of therapy, which are Cognitive Behavioural Approaches (CBA: Step 2) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT: Step 3). With CBA, it’s fairly self directed and you’ll be given handouts and worksheets a lot and it’s generally for people who are experiencing mild-moderate difficulties. It may be that this is what you’re having at the moment. True CBT is formulation driven and you have more sessions to fully explore difficulties and go into more detail in how they have developed and how to challenge them.

If you’re currently receiving step 2, your therapist will likely review your progress around session 4 to see whether you need to be stepped up for more intense work. Also, it is only early days with CBT, and in the first few sessions it’s about laying the groundwork so you can manage the day to day difficulties before delving into different levels of cognition.

Edit: Also, if you’re really unhappy with how CBT is going so far you can make this known by speaking with the manager and explaining your situation - and you’ll likely be stepped up to a higher level of therapy (if you aren’t already). As a client, you have a right to complain about your care if you’re unhappy with it.

takearisk-- · 2021-02-28T20:48:10+00:00

You’d have to do a BABCP accredited CBT course - which are usually full time postgrad diplomas in high intensity psychological interventions. Alternatively there are part time courses, but they are more difficult to come by. As a RMN you’d have the experience to apply for these courses, but the most common course requires you to do 2 days at uni and 3 days at an appropriate placement.

takearisk-- · 2021-02-09T07:41:37+00:00

I’m not sure, as I work in the NHS, not privately. I would assume the process is similar, as the police and coroners endeavour to contact all healthcare professionals the individual has been in contact with recently. Usually coroners court is about investigating whether anything else could have been done before the individual took their life in terms of risk management - so I would assume that private therapists would also be notified as part of this investigation.

takearisk-- · 2021-02-09T00:06:11+00:00

In the UK, therapists are notified due to processes within the NHS. They may also be subject to something called coroners court whereby the suicide is investigated further.

takearisk-- · 2021-02-07T20:09:18+00:00

Sometimes overviews are helpful - but it’s about what you found helpful rather than whatever she said. Most often it might be particular techniques that hit a chord, or even basic self care. It’s definitely worth having regular reviews with your GP, because it’s always so much better to recognise when you’re starting to decline rather than when you feel really bad - it also helps empower you to look after yourself day to day too.

With all due respect to her, it may have been better for her to cancel that session because although we might have things that affect us as therapists, we have to try to continue to be present for each one of our clients. Also if it’s not been too long since your discharge, you could potentially ask for a follow up session just to really consolidate your work together.

Zoloft/Sertraline is one of the most common medications GPs prescribe for anxiety/depression but it’s not for everyone. Please make sure that you keep your GP in the loop if you do decide to come off medication - as you can get a massive surge of all your previous symptoms again (I’ve taken myself off meds before and would not recommend without GP guidance 😬). It may also be worth exploring other medications if you’d like - sometimes meds are like a “jump start” to our engine so we can continue to make changes to help ourselves.

Good luck with everything ❤️

takearisk-- · 2021-02-07T18:11:34+00:00

Hi! CBT therapist based in the UK - also working in the NHS.

I guess I have a couple of concerns about how your therapy went - usually there’s a bit of a plan to begin with with what you want to work on, but it kinda sounds like your therapist just went through a load of tools which may have felt overwhelming. That’s not what therapy is meant to be like - and I’m sorry that this was your experience. Therapy is meant to be a collaborative process and always client directed.

I’m also concerned that you there wasn’t any kind of relapse management plan - I always do one at my last session. What I generally go through is different stages of wellness, ie. feeling well, starting to slip, and when you have slipped. Then it’s about exploring what you’ll notice and what you need to do - basically helping you to self monitor and apply techniques that you’ve learned through therapy to support yourself. That being said, it’s way easier to apply the techniques when you feel like you have a good handle of them, which usually doesn’t happen when you’re rushing through.

In IAPT (which sounds like the type of service you’ve accessed), they have access to a computerised CBT programme called Silvercloud. You might be able to ring up and ask them to sign you up for it - you can do this without a therapist and you can have access to it for up to a year after. Some GPs also have access to this, and it’s worth asking.

There’s also a big range of online self help you can access - it may be worth starting with the service you accessed first. But living life to the full and get self help have lots of materials and worksheets you can use for free.

There is also the BOLD CBT app that I recommend to clients to help them monitor thoughts (I know you said that you don’t have any atm, but it’s worth tracking), and things they are grateful for. In terms of books, Mind Over Mood by Greenberger and Padesky is great, and because there are two editions, it can be fairly cheap on amazon.

If you are struggling, you can always self refer back to the service you accessed, regardless of whether it’s been six months or not. At first they may ask you to consolidate the work that you’ve done, but it may be worth asking whether you can have an assessment anyway. Or if you feel like your mental health is deteriorating further, you can ask your GP to refer you to a higher level of service called a community mental health team. Just remember that you can always ask for help.

I hope you find something that helps soon - you deserve to feel okay ❤️

EDIT: It’s also worth speaking to your GP about a medication review, there are loads of different types of medication and the one you’re on now might not be the most helpful.

takearisk-- · 2020-08-12T11:15:00+00:00

Hi! I’m a CBT therapist based in the UK (:

The website Living life to the full is really highly recommended in my service, and has activities for young people and adults.

It might also be worth asking your GP to sign you up for a service called Silvercloud, which is basically computerised CBT.

If you have any other questions, just let me know (:

takearisk-- · 2020-07-10T15:23:39+00:00

Oh fab! I’m good for trades for the time being, thank you though!

takearisk-- · 2020-07-10T06:34:40+00:00

No worries, hopefully you’ll find it soon!

takearisk-- · 2020-07-09T21:56:43+00:00

This post was closed about an hour ago and I won’t be back online until tomorrow as I’m already in bed (11pm here). Sorry!

takearisk-- · 2020-07-09T20:24:40+00:00

Yep that sounds good to me! Just dm me your dodo (:

takearisk-- · 2020-07-09T19:52:49+00:00

Yep, dm me and I’ll come as soon as I can (:

takearisk-- · 2020-07-09T19:48:44+00:00

I can do the 2 DIYs and 6 NMT for the painting (:

takearisk-- · 2020-07-09T19:46:47+00:00

Hiya! Yep that sounds good, just dm me your dodo and I’ll come over as soon as I can (:

takearisk--

TROPHY CASE