Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
(Has its Limitations): Techniques like CBT and SBT </strong></p>Psychotherapy has more advocates than for medication. However both psychotherapy and medication can easily be used in combination by mental health professionals.
Psychotherapy involves talking with a trained mental health professional, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or counselor to learn how to deal with problems like anxiety disorders.
Advocates for psychotherapy, like Thomas A. Richards, argue that psychotherapy has the best approach to solving anxiety disorders. A term was born in the 1980s to define the psychotherapy treatment method for anxiety disorders. It is known as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is basically a combination of cognitive and behavioral theories, covered earlier, in dealing with mental health disorders.
The major aim of CBT is to reduce anxiety by eliminating beliefs, mental associations and behaviors that bring about the anxiety disorder. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, as its name suggests, has two parts: 1) the cognitive component, and 2) the behavioral component.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) says the cognitive component helps people change thinking patterns that keep them from overcoming their fears. For example, a person with a social anxiety disorder might be helped to overcome the belief that others are continually watching and harshly judging him or her.
The behavioral component of CBT seeks to change people's reactions to anxiety-provoking situations. A key element of this component is exposure, in which people confront the things they fear.
For example, a person with social anxiety may be encouraged to spend time in feared social situations without giving in to the temptation to flee. In some cases the individual will be asked to deliberately make what appears to be slight social blunders and observe other people's reactions; if they are not as harsh as expected, the person's social anxiety may begin to fade.
Some people who have successfully conquered mental health disorder, such as their fears, through cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can experience a relapse after long periods of success. The NIMH says that, “Recurrences can be treated effectively, just like an initial episode. In fact, the skills you learned in dealing with the initial episode can be helpful in coping with a setback,” (National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a branch the National Institutes of Health (NIH), at nimh.nih.gov).
CBT has its offspring or offshoots among professionals who have modified the principles to the point of creating different approaches. A notable one is known as Solution-Oriented Brief Therapy (SBT) or Solution Focused Psychotherapy. Its approach is less past or problem-centered and more solution-centered, a process which is more effective, brief and more empowering.
Michele Weiner-Davis is a proponent of SBT, an approach that she uses to help people overcome their obstacles on their own rather than relying on so called “experts” for constant care. She believes professionals like her are meant to empower clients to solve their own obstacles rather than dump matters on counselors to solve them.
In her audio book, Fire Your Shrink , Weiner-Davis says, “The countless people who have triumphed over physical illness, poverty, abuse, loss, and emotional devastation, are true experts (in overcoming obstacles on their own). Let's learn from them, instead of obsessing over humanity's dark side then running to professionals (psychotherapists, counselors, etc) in the hope that they can cure what ails us.
“The idea that “experts” don't have all the answers may not win any popularity contest. A tremendous amount of security is derived in believing in “experts.” But it's a false sense of security that in no way compares to the strength you get from knowing that you can depend on yourself.
“Since I'm one of those so called “experts” I realize that it may seem somewhat paradoxical for me to tell you to take expert advice off its pedestal (and see it for what it really is), but it's not paradoxical at all… My goal is to put the self back in self-help (to be your own expert and thereby help yourself overcome obstacles),” Weiner-Davis, Fire Your Shrink (parentheses added for clarification).
Weiner-Davis' book and audio book can be purchased online at her website, DivorceBusting.com. The website is more than about “divorce busting,” that is why she has books such as Fire Your Shrink. Click on the top link “Divorce Busting Store,” or on the left link “Audio CDs and Tapes.” The book version of Fire Your Shrink has been renamed to Change Your Life and Everyone in It .
About the book and audio book, her website says, “The truth is, as Michele Weiner-Davis discovered when she set out to practice psychotherapy, you don't have to go on a psycho-archaeology expedition to solve your problems (like the CBT approach tends to emphasize with its problem centered approach).
“Exploring your childhood doesn't help you to escape the stranglehold of the past. Knowing why you behave destructively doesn't stop you from overeating or overreacting, curb depression or panic attacks, or build healthy, happy relationships. Even worse, continually thinking and talking about problems makes you feel hopeless.
“Determined to find a better way, Michele developed a radically different approach, based on the principles of Solution-oriented Brief Therapy (SBT). Suddenly she was witnessing spectacular triumphs. People who had been stuck for years turned their lives around within days. The transformations were real, immediate, and lasting.
“Drawing on more than a decade of experience with individuals, couples, and families, Michele explains:
- why looking to the past for understanding prolongs the problem
- how to find “the expert within” and break free of unproductive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting
- how to translate overwhelming problems into achievable goals
- how, despite what you've been told, you can change other people as well as yourself.”
Other recommended secular professionals include, Lucinda Bassett, from Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety. She has a self-help, drug free program called Attacking Anxiety & Depression. Her material is more expensive at around $450.00 compared to Weiner-Davis' $9.95 for her audio book. Her approach is similar to that of Weiner-Davis, focusing on empowering people than shrinking their brains.
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