Posted by Cecilia on September 10, 2001, at 4:13:07
In reply to Re: talk therapy - beg to differ -- my two cents, posted by akc on September 8, 2001, at 20:29:20
> > Adamie - Talk therapy, depending on the kind, can definitely help medical conditions. Cognitive therapy can help people learn to cope with their disorder, thus improving their quality of life. It can also help to change a person from a victim of a disease, and empower tham to take control of the disorder, rather than the disorder controling them.
> >
> > - Cam
>
> I have to jump in here and add my support to what Cam says. I can only speak from my experience. But medication alone would not solve my disease. I had developed years of poor coping mechanisms (from alcoholism to isolating myself from others to black and white thinking and so on and so on) in an attempt to control/treat my disease. Adding a medicine, even the right medicine, didn't take these poor coping skills away. I've needed help in identifying and relearning these skills.
>
> And I will add, because it has been a battle these past two years to find the "right" medicine (or combination of medicines), I have needed the help of talk therapy in learning how to accept that I have a chronic, even possibly deadly, illness. As Cam said -- to do that without taking the role of a victim -- I couldn't have done that without the help of a very good therapist. I think this acceptance has helped me as I have worked with my pdoc in trying to find the right combination of meds.
>
> akcBoth talk therapy and drugs help many people though neither has worked for me. But I just wanted to say that most people think of talk therapy as kind of a benign harmless pastime that
won`t hurt even if it doesn`t help. Not true. I think you should have to sign an informed consent form before talk therapy like you do for surgery because that`s what it is- surgery of the mind and soul. I spent 7 years (632 sessions) in talk therapy and emerged far more depressed than when I began. It`s totally addictive, even if you know it`s not helping you, your obsession with your therapist can become your whole life, and the more you invest emotionally and financially the harder it is to put your cards down and walk away. I`ve tried many meds with horrible side effects but at least once I stopped taking them the side effects went away. But I`m still in terrible pain from therapy that ended four years ago. Just my experience.
poster:Cecilia
thread:78191
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010907/msgs/78446.html