Posted by pseudoname on April 5, 2006, at 12:13:39
In reply to Re: Reward pathways and motivation, posted by Meri-Tuuli on April 5, 2006, at 10:52:34
> I feel trapped by my inability to have any confidence in myself. SIgh. Any advice?? CBT?
Well, you could compare yourself to *me*, that should make you feel better. ;-) LOL!
I started getting breathing attacks last night in bed when I was thinking about exactly the sort of stuff (classmates' jobs) you just described!
I've found that the buprenorphine, the first drug that ever had a lasting effect against my depression, opened up new insights and some cognitive techniques that didn't work much before are now having some enduring good effects for me.
Right now I'm trying the most to apply principles from "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy", which now has a self-help book out called "Get Out of Your Mind". It's similar to CBT and DBT, but with sorta lower expectations, in a way. They advocate not-fighting against the bad thoughts and feelings that automatically arise in us. So I try to accept that I feel rotten about the criticisms everyone could (or will) make about me. That's different from either accepting the criticisms or challenging the criticisms: I'm just trying to live with my own emotional reactions, not even trying to change them.
But a lot of these feelings are just below the surface, not quite obvious. So I'm not sure what thoughts or feelings I'm struggling against, because I'm so good at immediately avoiding them!
This sort of work is a lot easier and more effective for me on the bupe, but it's far from a slam-dunk, and progress is slow. The gains I've made so far seem secure, but I don't know if I can make any more. So I'm still considering other options, like maybe APs. — Although I just remembered that Solian isn't available in the U.S. Oh well. :-(
I should add that the Acceptance and Commitment people are preachy and messianic and have some tiresome linguistic ideas that confuse their overall case. Their leader is consummately arrogant and doesn't realize his own sometimes embarrassing intellectual limitations. And he (therefore they) are somewhat anti-med, an attitude that is ALWAYS a problem for patients. But the acceptance techniques, I think, are very promising and otherwise overlooked in therapy.
poster:pseudoname
thread:628681
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060403/msgs/629204.html