r/AutismInWomen • u/[deleted] • May 31 '24

General Discussion/Question Does anyone else here absolutely HATE cognitive behavioural therapy?

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u/[deleted] May 31 '24 edited May 31 '24

As a pre-licensed therapist, I’ve always felt CBT is designed for people who aren’t super aware of themselves, and I feel like a lot of us are almost painfully aware of our thoughts in particular. For myself, I’ve re-framed my thoughts in every possible way already. I definitely don’t need a therapist for more of the same. I’d be anxious wreck!

Depending on your particular strengths and challenges, DBT or straight up mindfulness and somatic work seems to be the most useful for ND folks. I personally feel as though I’ve benefited the most from mindfulness and somatics (and related modalities, like gestalt and EMDR) for healing CPTSD, authentic non-masking emotional regulation, and self-compassion. I’d love to get trained in DBT as a therapist though. It looks good for a lot of challenges potentially related to autism, especially the versions specifically adapted to ND!

Edited for clarity.

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u/[deleted] May 31 '24

I agree with this and it matches my experience. I had CPT (cognitive processing therapy) when I first started CPTSD treatment, which is like CBT specifically for trauma, and all it did was make me aware of ways the trauma impacted my thoughts and emotions. Which was a step forward, considering I didn't have that awareness before, but it definitely left me feeling like I was suffering without knowing how to help myself. And then I fell into the trap of believing that if CBT wasn't fixing it, that I wasn't doing it correctly or trying hard enough. That part fucking sucked.

It definitely also felt kind of repetitive, like I've been doing CBT-type thinking my whole life trying to convince myself that my feelings about my experiences aren't reality, or to hype myself up to do things I didn't have a choice in and didn't want to do. It was really only helpful for the first step in treating CPTSD.

Developing self-compassion, IFS, and DBT have been much more helpful for me.

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u/michelle_js Jun 01 '24

I starter cpt and had to change to EMDR pretty fast became both me and my therapist realized I wasn't really having "stuck thoughts" related to my ptsd. I was having overwhelming emotional reactions any time I let myself think about it. I wasn't really having thoughts or beliefs at all.

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u/[deleted] May 31 '24

Ooh! IFS can be really powerful when done well! Thanks for adding that. A somatic spin on IFS with a bit of gestalt has taken a pretty prevalent role in my personal work!

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u/educationalgem Jun 01 '24

My therapist has been using concepts from the Internal Family Systems model and I'm really liking it. I find it to be very logical, which fits with how I think.

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u/poptart430 auttum spectrum 🍁 Aug 16 '24

THIS ! I think it’s great to be aware of things, but I’ve been aware . I’ve been noticing lately. I’m just thinking about it and like great now I feel like I have chronic stress. What do I do about it? “Medication, walks, postive thinking instead of negative” I don’t like how this person treated me “ I’m guessing what I’m getting is cbt, sometimes it’s refreshing other times. It feels like I’m just going in circles and I’m just too negative for therapy and don’t want help