CBT cure or control ?

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Guess what I have just stumbled upon the cure for all your anxiety problems and not only that but your depression, your OCD and yeah just about any mental disorder you may be suffering from. I have researched this cure and there seems to be nothing bad said against it either wow its magic.

I have been signed up my by my local job centre to go out and get this treatment and guess what I am very sceptical about why shouldn't I be. I bet you would love to know what this magic cure is well its called wait for it ......... cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT and its supposed to be a track towards me getting work again and it will also change me.

CHANGE ME, well if I am to get back into work I need to change do I not and I guess that what CBT is all about. Sorry for all you hopeful believers in the magic of modern science but I can not help but question this aid, cure or whatever they would have us believe. I question it with not just one question but a handful and I am going to attend it and I will test those who preach this and I will put it a thorough test. I may even come out of it shreaking like those off the film invasion of the body snatches.

My questions are as follows

Is it a form of brainwashing and will I be altered the film 1984 starts ringing in the back of mind for some reason

Will it have an effect on someone with Aspergers or is more suited to those with a neurotypical mentality and wiring.

Can it make up for chemical imbalance and allow through this discipline or what ever it is to control the brain chemistry in us

Could it even possibly be a cure for aspergers which is a deffo no no for me im afraid I am who I am

Oh just one other thing that might make you question how society in the uk is so ignorant to our aspergers makeup is this. The person who refered me to CBT at the jobcentre asked for how long have I had aspergers and when had I been assberged so hey I am am off to a great start there its nice to know the government are training well. hey even the staff could do with some CBT you never know they might learn something as well.

Sorry for the dry humour but its how I am feeling because there is never enough to help the majority of us is there ?

CBT has been around for a while, and may help some people improve/recover from a depressive episode, and has been shown to be useful in treating other anxiety-related disorders, including anorexia, OCD (not the personality disorder, just OCD as an anxiety disorder), panic disorder and specific phobias, etc.

So if you have one or more of these as a feature of your AS, then CBT may help reduce the effect that feature has on you. This assumes you get a therapist who is competent with CBT and with Aspies.

CBT won't brainwash you (that's impossible anyway), nor change you in any fundamental way (again, impossible). It may help to provide coping strategies and daily-life tactics in that you may learn new ways to see yourself and your AS. I've heard and read that Aspies need a different approach in therapy compared to NTs, and that's consistent with my experience with six therapists (psychologists, psychiatrists, etc.) in my life.

But CBT is not a cure for AS, nor is anything else, as far as anyone has been able to show. You won't turn into a "pod person" (I prefer the original film, not the remake), but you may benefit in other ways.

I hope it helps.

Perhaps that would help me? From my experience it's either A)Take a pill B) just get over it. (both of which don't help my situation.) I like the idea of coping stuff but I don't want to be talked down to which is my main fear I'm VERY private and tend to blow them off anyway and keep my emotions to myself. The last Therapist said I have to find out what I SEE as an issue not what others see IMO sure buddy my behavior has upset EVERYONE IN MY ENVIRONMENT! That's the problem what's the fix? YES it's them HAVING an issue with ME! BUT it's those behaviors that have landed me suspended from College,ALMOST Fired from my first job! Upsetting family on a daily basis! and when I have this behavior that "upsets them Not Me" and land in JAIL are you going to be there to bail me out MR. THERAPIST UH NO!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!

CBT is not brainwashing. It is highly logical and well suited for those with ASDs. It teaches you how to work out your thoughts and feelings logically, so your thoughts are still very much your own, but with a way to rationally work out what negative thoughts and feelings are valid and which ones need reconsideration. As for being a cure for depression, CBT only does that for people who have developed a chemical imbalance from life stressors only. If you are genetically predisposed to having a chemical imbalance, then CBT will still help you but won't be a magic cure.

No, it's not brainwashing unless it's forced on you (and in that situation almost anything can be brainwashing). You have to do most of the work yourself, and the changes you make to your thoughts and your habits have to be maintained by you. There's very little the counselor could do if you decided not to agree with some strategy s/he proposed. Of course one must be capable of being non-compliant for that to work, but I am assuming here that you have the ability to say "no" if you so desire.

One important point--CBT doesn't really "change" you any more than learning a new philosophy or a new skill or simply growing and maturing does. Your brain stays the way it was, plus some new connections and new skills; your personality stays the same. If you think you'll end up being some different person afterwards, no. You'll still be prone to all the things you're vulnerable to now; only you may find it easier to handle them.

emmm well that does sound like a positive thing then in any case I am going to give it a go especially if it makes me feel better because I am starting to become more socially anxious and I am developing some strange phobias such as fear of open spaces and heights. So it sounds rite up my alley then. I just hope it would make me work ready because I do not like the idea of going back to dreaded work after the nasty experiences I have had from people but anythings possible I guess.

Thanks for the positive replies folks I was very concerned and paranoid last night about it but hey thats what wrong planets for to help each other out.

Thanks

Nebula