Therapy / Counselling

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Can anyone share their experiences with different types of therapy?
I have had CBT therapy but it didn’t help me, I think I need counselling to be able to discuss my feelings more!

What type of therapy have you found helpful or unhelpful? Have you had a better experience privately or on the NHS?
 
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I can't really help much as in a very similar position to you. CBT did not work for me, I've tried this quite a few times now. I am now in the process of finding a counsellor, my advice from people I know who have had it have told me to go private. It's expensive but I need the help so I will be going private.

My cousin has very poor mental health, sadly his experience with NHS has been very bad :( it seems they will do the bare minimum to support with cbt then suggested he went private as they can't help with his issues. I guess they are a very stretched service so can't fault them much.
 
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I can't really help much as in a very similar position to you. CBT did not work for me, I've tried this quite a few times now. I am now in the process of finding a counsellor, my advice from people I know who have had it have told me to go private. It's expensive but I need the help so I will be going private.

My cousin has very poor mental health, sadly his experience with NHS has been very bad :( it seems they will do the bare minimum to support with cbt then suggested he went private as they can't help with his issues. I guess they are a very stretched service so can't fault them much.
I’m looking at going private too! I had 6 weeks CBT through the NHS, then she said to me ‘this isn’t working, your mental health is too bad for this type of therapy’ but that’s all they could offer me :(
 
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I have had a lot of therapy for anxiety - some with the NHS and latterly for the past 5+ years with a private counsellor.
The counsellor I did have with the NHS retired and wasn't replaced so I had no other option but to pay for one myself and I know I'm lucky to be able to afford to do this.

I found DBT quite difficult to master - I was given a lot of homework and had to try to analyse behaviours and replace any destructive behaviour patterns with healthy effective ones.

I found CBT really helpful and my therapist tells me I am using it well and benefitting from it, which I do have to agree with.

I also had several sessions of EMDR which uncovered several issues from my childhood which caused me trauma and anxiety.
 
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I have had a lot of therapy for anxiety - some with the NHS and latterly for the past 5+ years with a private counsellor.
The counsellor I did have with the NHS retired and wasn't replaced so I had no other option but to pay for one myself and I know I'm lucky to be able to afford to do this.

I found DBT quite difficult to master - I was given a lot of homework and had to try to analyse behaviours and replace any destructive behaviour patterns with healthy effective ones.

I found CBT really helpful and my therapist tells me I am using it well and benefitting from it, which I do have to agree with.

I also had several sessions of EMDR which uncovered several issues from my childhood which caused me trauma and anxiety.
I’m so glad your on the right path to feeling happier and less anxious :) hope everything works out for you
 
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I had private counselling about 2 years ago but it was quite expensive and I couldn't really justify the cost.
I then went to the doctors last year and was told I had ptsd, depression and anxiety. They put me on a silver cloud online course- I didnt really feel this helped me much, I then had counselling CBT through the nhs.
I felt like the NHS counselling helped .. i do still have times when I feel rubbish but I write a blog to help with how I feel.
I don't feel like I will ever be 'okay' as I dont think you ever get over domestic violence and how someone can treat you so bad.
 
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I had private counselling about 2 years ago but it was quite expensive and I couldn't really justify the cost.
I then went to the doctors last year and was told I had ptsd, depression and anxiety. They put me on a silver cloud online course- I didnt really feel this helped me much, I then had counselling CBT through the nhs.
I felt like the NHS counselling helped .. i do still have times when I feel rubbish but I write a blog to help with how I feel.
I don't feel like I will ever be 'okay' as I dont think you ever get over domestic violence and how someone can treat you so bad.
My uni offers that silver cloud online course! I’ve not used it but may give it a try. Sorry to here that you went through such an awful thing :( I’m glad you’ve found that blogging helps you :)
 
My uni offers that silver cloud online course! I’ve not used it but may give it a try. Sorry to here that you went through such an awful thing :( I’m glad you’ve found that blogging helps you :)
Thank you , the silver cloud does help in some ways. But for me I felt like I needed reassurance that I did the right.
Blogging helped me realise what I went through and the journey i have been on to get to where i am today. If writing it helps other people then it's a bonus!
 
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I had CBT when I was 17 and tbh thought it was a load of balls, didn't really help me. Talking therapies and mindfulness however have proved to be successful for me. I find having someone help to rationalise my thought processes and challenging my beliefs with simple logical conversation made me realise my bad thought patterns, which make it so much easier for me to recognise when I'm sliding into a depressive episode and helping myself before it becomes a full blown depressive slump that I used to find myself in for months.
 
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I tried counselling twice at uni with the student services counsellors and I didn’t find it helpful. Now I know more about counselling I think it could have been helpful but I just took an instant dislike to both of them and didn’t go back after my first session with either. They both got straight into it, asking me questions about my upbringing, childhood, family etc. which didn’t seem relevant to me so I switched off. I now understand that they were trying to understand me, how I think, act, react etc. based on the way I’d been ‘moulded’ before being able to do anything helpful. I think if they’d explained that in the first place, I might have responded differently. If you have any option to discuss the counsellor’s approach beforehand and get a general feel for whether they’re someone you want to open up to, it would be a beneficial thing to do.

And for anyone reading who’s thinking about counselling, if you’re in employment it might be worth checking with HR if your company has an employee assistance programme. Lots do but aren’t very good at advertising them to staff. You can usually get short-term private counselling free of charge. They can’t always help, especially for complex matters, but worth checking out to see if it might be an option for you.
 
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Finding the right therapist is key, it's like any relationship you have to feel you can trust that person. Counsellors can vary if a counselling psychologist with a doctorate to someone who has no qualifications at all, so worth checking out if going independently.

I began with a counsellor at my university during my PhD, but she realised it was beyond her level and needed more help. Despite my GP initially binning her referral letter, and a second on humming over referring me to a NHS psychologist I eventually had therapy from a clinical psychologist. I had psychodynamic therapy, which enabled me to understand my past to be able to understand my present.

One of my besties is a counselling psychologist, and therapy isn't for everyone one just like medication isn't. Equally, there can be a long wait on the NHS, but decided that for me they were better than someone unqualified that could do more harm than good.
 
DBT is interesting but quite hard to implement, imo. Big standard counselling, I had a bad experience. Ive never been given CBT but my partner has it seems too simplistic? But I know people do benefit from it.

After 10yrs+ I finally got one to one therapy, which was so much more positive.
 
I’ve had CBT through NHS and also CBT and EMDR and counselling with a private therapist.

The therapy I paid for worked a lot better but it really is a case of finding the right therapist to suit you and being prepared to put the work in with them!
 
The NHS like to offer CBT as it’s viewed as a short, sharp “fix” and as it’s evidence based, they can “prove” it’s working. They also offer counselling for a set amount of time ie 6-12 sessions. Most of the time this is not enough to build trust and work though what it is that takes ton there.

Like other people have said it really depends on the counsellor you get and the relationship you build with them. Many offer sessions where you can meet and get a feel of what it’s like. You may not gel with one, but this doesn’t mean therapy is all useless. It just means that you should try someone else.
 
I’ve just started seeing an ‘integrative therapist’ as she calls herself... I’ve only had one session on Skype which isn’t ideal but she did offer some new insights to old issues which is promising. I’m not sure what real progress there might be but it’s hard to say after one session. I have a friend who says it’s better seeing someone with qualifications in psychology and that as a science but that tends to be more expensive... £60 for an hour isn’t too bad at the moment and if there are positive results that’s not something you can put a price on... but at the same time if I feel after a few months I’m not getting anywhere I won’t feel I’ve wasted too much on it.
 
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Hey, I’m not too good at navigating to find what I’m looking for but this seems a good place to ask? I’m looking for a kind of PTSD, witnessing something help/advice forum. Xx
 
I’ve had counselling and honestly it’s the best thing ever. Hard, yes. The hardest thing I’ve ever done, and you feel so much worse immediately afterwards BUT you do recover and every hard session lays another stepping stone towards unpacking your traumas and issues. I’ve been in counselling since 2014 and I can’t even begin to imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t gone. I’m lucky enough that I could go private so I paid for it myself but it is worth it if you can :) I think every single human should go even if you have no anxiety/depression or anything, it really does pay dividends to just talk through your life with a relative stranger. It’s weird at first but soon becomes more normal. A good counsellor will never rush you, force you to say things you’re not ready to say, hound you with phone calls trying to book a session... it’s all down on your terms, at your pace.
 
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I have grieve counselling quite soon after losing someone close to me, it didn't work as I think it was too raw and I kept saying I was fine.

Been and had general counselling that didn't really work.

Had 6 or more sessions of CBT again I didn't think it truly helped, I learned from it relaxing/breathing techniques which I used regularly.

Had a physiological assessment, then they got to the bottom of all my problems and said I need DBT as I have a BPD and their has been other factors that have contributed to my current mental health. I'm currently waiting for it to start but it's currently on hold for obvious reasons. Has anyone had experience of DBT and felt it worked?

I have regular sessions to meet and chat with a councillor as well which is different from the other sessions I had in the past.
 
Hey, I’m not too good at navigating to find what I’m looking for but this seems a good place to ask? I’m looking for a kind of PTSD, witnessing something help/advice forum. Xx
Have you spoken to your gp? Does your employer have an employee assistance program?
 
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