Lindsey/Cognitive behavioral therapy

[Guest guest]

Lindsey, do you know of a site where you can search by state or

zipcode, for someone who does what you do. The cognitive behavioral therapy

sounds very interesting.

nne

From:

VulvarDisorders [mailto:VulvarDisorders ] On

Behalf Of Chelle

Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 2:54 PM

To: VulvarDisorders

Subject: Re: Cognitive behavioral therapy

Thanks so much for taking the time to put that info together, Lindsey!

I'm actually gonna take some time and study more about the main 10 cognitive

distortions. I found your example of the first one, helpful. I'd say most

people have 'some' distortions to some degree. Do you happen to have a

list of examples for other nine? I like it when the examples are things

you can relate to or understand better.

I have scriptures that I am daily speaking out loud and meditating on.

They are so comforting. They reinforce not only my faith, but the power

behind that faith and my trust in the Lord that I will get passed all of

this.

Thanks again... ~Chelle

Lindsey wrote:

HI, everyone,

Just my .02 on cognitive behavioral therapy and pain (aka

CBT). First off, here is a great article about recent studies regarding

CBT and chronic pain:

http://health.msn.com/womens-health/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100165873 & page=1

Most of us have patterns of thought called " cognitive

distortions. " Here is a link to a list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_distortion

For example, " All or nothing thinking. " In our

case an example of these thoughts would be, " I will ALWAYS have this

pain. " or " I will NEVER get well again. " " I

will NEVER have a happy marriage or relationship, etc. "

These distortions become habitual patterns of thinking, which

actually CHANGE the structure of the brain in a way that is not

helpful. These distortions also can impact your mood (ie- " My life

will always be bad; I am a worthless person; something awful is going to

happen I just know it will. " ). Your brain is changed to become

stuck in these loops that can exacerbate and even cause chronic pain or

depression or anxiety.

A psychotherapist trained in CBT will help you identify your

distortions around pain (or depression or anxiety or whatever the presenting

issue is) and challenge you to begin substituting the distortions with more

rational, real thoughts.

Back to our example of a chronic pain patient. " I

will never get well again. " I would ask this patient, " Based

on what evidence do you know that for sure? Miracles happen every

day. You yourself have had significant progress in managing your

pain. The longest a flare-up has ever lasted has been a month and then

it's gone away, etc. "

Another example with pain would be disqualifying the

positive. Say a client comes in and they are very upset because they've

had a flare-up. The distortion might be, " This flare-up

means I'm back to square one. I'm never going to get well again.

This will never go away. " The distortions would

be disqualifying the positive and all or nothing thinking. More

helpful, rational thoughts might be, " My flare-ups are much fewer and

far between. My pain level is significantly less than it was a

year ago. I am doing things this month that I wouldn't dream of doing

last month because my pain is better. Flare-ups may be part of the

healing process and tomorrow might bring a pain-free day. Perhaps my

pain will continue to reduce until it is gone. "

As the client begins to come up with more rational, helpful, and

adaptive habits of thinking studies show that the brain actually changes in

response and MANY people have had a huge reduction in their pain.

It doesn't mean the pain is " all in your head " or that

you're crazy, it just means that not only are you working to heal your body

but you are also working to heal your mind. Since the mind is where

pain is perceived it makes 100% sense to deal with that piece of the puzzle,

too.

Another modality I use is this:

http://www.emdr.com/

Some clients need a bit of extra help, and experts think that

EMDR gives the brain a bit of a jump start in healing issues such as trauma,

depression, anxiety and even chronic pain.

I hope this helps and that it wasn't too much of a book.

If anybody has questions, feel free to post or backchannel me.

I'm not writing this as mental health advice, just a bit of

education on how CBT, EMDR, and psychotherapy can help reduce chronic

pain.

Lindsey

[Guest guest]

I don't know of a site like that. I know there is a national CBT organization-but I do CBT and I'm not a member. Most therapists are able to do CBT. A few websites to look into are:

www.networktherapy.com

www.psychologytoday.com

and they have an option that says whether or not the therapist uses CBT. You can also call the therapist and ask.

Take care,

Lindsey