Cbt does it help with cptsd?

[Eyessoblue]

Hi, I'm new here! I recently was diagnosed with cptsd by my therapist. My therapist has been really helpful and offered great advice and suggestions, but now wants me to take a 6 week break from her and go and have cbt as she feels my self worth and negativity about myself is so low that she wants me to now have therapy in the hope that positive thinking and changing the way I think will help me not just in the long run but also to help release my inner critic which I have had great problems in trying to identify.
Has anyone else on here had cbt and if so did it work for you? I feel quite worried about it as I am so negative about myself that I can't imagine being able to turn my thought pattern around and start being positive about 'me'!
Any help or advice will be much appreciated thank you.

[Three Roses]

Hello, Eyessoblue, and welcome!

Quoting Dr Van Der Kolk in The Body Keeps The Score - "In contrast to its effectiveness for irrational fears such as spiders, CBT has not done so well for traumatized individuals, particularly those with histories of childhood abuse. Only about one in three participants with PTSD who finish research studies show some improvement. Those who complete CBT treatment usually have fewer PTSD symptoms, but they rarely recover completely: most continue to have substantial problems with their health, work, or mental well-being."

Both Dr van Der Kolk and Pete Walker have lots to say about identifying and resisting the inner critic. http://pete-walker.com/shrinkingInnerCritic.htm for Pete Walker's input.

Cptsd had not yet made it into the DSM and as such does not have the recognition among health care providers that other disorders do. Treatment that is helpful for simple PTSD can be ineffective or even further damaging to those with Cptsd.

I hope you find what works for you! We're glad you're here, keep asking questions.

[sanmagic7]

hey, eyessoblue,  welcome!  glad you're here.

just a few questions, first, because i'm a little puzzled about the switch of therapists.   do you trust your therapist?  what kind of therapy is s/he providing you?  is s/he a trauma therapist?  why is s/he sending you to someone else?  if, which is what i hope, your therapist simply wants you to meet temporarily with a specialist in cbt therapy, then the switch may be helpful.

cbt therapy isn't necessarily effective against trauma issues, but may be helpful with the concentrated focus on low self-worth and negativity issues.  since it's for a limited time (you said 6 weeks), it may help you to raise your sense of self-worth just that much, and erase some of the negativity that you're carrying around, so as to make you more able to engage productively in your regular therapy for your c-ptsd needs.

it's basically a talk therapy geared to addressing negative thought patterns and attitudes, and can be helpful in giving you coping mechanisms to lessen the negativity you're carrying around at the moment.  i hope that helps ease your fears.  for those particular targets your therapist is speaking about, i think it may be helpful.

(i don't mean to dismiss what you said, 3 roses.  i'm speaking about these 2 areas of concentration in particular, not trauma-related issues in general.  i agree with what you said on that.)

best to you with this.  i do hope you can find some relief.  feeling that negative about yourself is such a burden to carry.  hopefully, a little cbt can help lighten that load.   i know it may seem improbable to you, but i've learned that our bodies and minds actually want to be well.   i've found it amazing, through my own therapeutic work, how true that is.

[Kizzie]

HI Eyessoblue - I did an online CBT course for my social anxiety (so I'm not sure how it compares to face-to-face and with cracking the Inner Critic in its fullest sense), but it helped me to learn to hear what I was saying to raise my anxiety and then to challenge and replace those thoughts with other possibilities, more positive ones. The theory is that by changing your thinking you can change how you feel. 

And it did help to some extent.  For example: I went from feeling social anxiety when I was out but not really knowing why; to seeing that I thought everyone was looking at me and judging me harshly, to really looking around when I was out to see if everyone was indeed looking at me; to seeing that most people are concerned with their own lives and weren't too interested in me; to laughing (gently) at myself for being a bit narcissistic in thinking I was at the centre of the universe for everyone. 

What CBT didn't help with was all the feelings stuffed away from childhood trauma - too many intense emotions to ever process just by changing what I think.  What made me think I was being (and deserved to be) judged harshly in the first place?  Well my parents.  They actually did judge me harshly on a daily basis and it devastated me and that was a tough bit of stored trauma to get through.  The only way through that was to feel it. 

It seems to be that therapy which address both thinking and feeling are what is needed in the case of CPTSD.  This is quite different from some zealous CBT proponents who suggest you can deal with the trauma just by changing how you think about it (Byron Katie).  Doesn't seem to work that way although it's an appealing thought for some.

Hope this makes sense and helps 

[Eyessoblue]

Thank you so much for your help and advice. I live in the u.k and you are only offered 6-8 weeks free therapy on the NHS. Which I have finished now, my Therapist has therefore put me on a waiting list now for 6 weeks of CBT in the hope that it will help me feel better about myself. As she believes I have an extreme case of cptsd she has been given permission through the NHS for me to return to her after the 6 weeks for ongoing therapy which she thinks that I'm going to be in for a few years. My negativity about 'me' is extreme and my self worth is zero, I believe this is due to 19 years of childhood abuse, being constantly criticised and put down at every opportunity, I dissociate a lot too which makes it difficult in therapy as when we are talking about issues I find difficult with, I remove myself from the situation and take myself away until my therapist has stopped talking then I try and change the subject so,I don't have to deal with it, not quite sure how I can get myself over that one!  Not convinced cbt is going to help but prepared to give anything a go. So pleased to have found this site, just good to know I'm not alone or going completely crazy!!

[Three Roses]

Dear sanmagic, I don't feel discounted. Sometimes many different points of view are necessary to be helpful.

[sanmagic7]

the whole therapy/insurance/financial help deal is different in different places, that's for sure.  i'm glad you'll be able to go back to your regular therapist after your sessions with the cbt therapist.  i do also hope that your regular therapist has some knowledge of trauma, its symptoms, and treatment.   that would be ideal.  hoping that you get the professional help you're looking for, and i hope you stay with us as well.  i've found this forum to be an extension of therapy, and have made a lot of progress because of the people here.   their support, warmth, and generosity have been invaluable.   best to you, and a big hug.