CBTMONTHLY November 3rd 2010
A TESTIMONIAL FROM SOPHIE ABOUT OCD
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HOW COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY MADE A DIFFERENCE!
CBTMONTHLY November 3rd 2010
This month Stress at Christmas Matt Broadway-Horner A day in the life.... Matt Broadway-Horner
What is ACT? This being a new fresh approach developed with the CBT tradition Matt Broadway-Horner
What is Social Phobia?what are the 3 areas that we need to know and understand in dealing with it? Knowing is half the battleMatt Broadway-Horner
Testimonial on her battle with OCD learn how she developed ideas to help her move forward and live life againSophie CBT made a difference! Francesca 2
stress at christmas allow for enjoyment By Matt Broadway-Horner
Yes its here again and boy do we love it! But this comes with a mixed bag of goodies ranging from many pleasures and pressures placed upon this season of good will. Stress what is it? Well it affects us in 3 areas. 1st it affects your thoughts and the more the thinking is negative then has a spiraling effect on behaviour and emotions. The 2nd area is behaviour, it can disturb sleep, eating patterns, relationships and interfere in the way communication is delivered. 3rd and final area is emotions, feelings like anxiety, hurt, depression can become more common and leading to poor self care and an increase in comfort behaviours like eating
which then can increase weight. The cycle then continues with Negative Automatic Thoughts (NATs) about the weight gain and then an increase in self defeating behaviours. How can I reduce my Stress? Well prioritize what is important to you this Christmas and look at the bigger picture when you list the priorities. Is it important to fight over the last Turkey in the supermarket or will it help you to be calm to have a none festive meal and enjoy the company of the people you are catering for? At the end of the day Christmas is meant to be a time for enjoying the company of others and reflect on the positive aspects of the year and looking forward to the next!
CBTMONTHLY November 3rd 2010
a day in the life of a therapist.. the human condition By Matt Broadway-Horner
I was on the plane recently sat next to the middle exit door on the right side, I choose this location for the extra leg room. Just waiting for take off was on my mind when then my attention was caught up with the emergency lever and then “What if I pulled it” which made me laugh a little to myself but then when the stewards did all the safety checks ready for the flight my brain went into red alert. The plane had just took off and the stewards were going through the health and safety procedure for passengers when my mind said “go on pull it” “the whole plane will dive” and the urge was so great to pull it that I had the tendency to act to neutralise my anxiety by sitting on my hands but I chose not to and instead played with the notion by pretending to yawn and stretch arms out near to lever. Guess what nothing happened and passengers arrived safely at destination, but it occurred to me that all my work with OCD is beginning to rub off on me and that I ought to reduce my work load. That is one option but the other which sits more comfortably with me is to just understand that the mind has a 101 thoughts which are a mixture of good, mad, bad and dangerous but its passing traffic. Not every thought is fact, and indeed in one day the creative mind can pick up
Pit stop.... exercise
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‘The plane had just took off and the stewards were going through the health and safety for passengers when my mind said “go on pull it” “the whole plane will dive” and the urge was so great to pull it that I had the tendency to act to neutralise my anxiety by sitting on my hands but I chose not to’ Matt Broadway-Horner
many advertisements, colours, themes, ideas, words and emotions to name a few in any given moment. Think of the mind as a little black box which are found on air craft, the box is used to collect data about the build up to a crash. If the mind collects data but then attach the criterion to it that would create and maintain OCD then life as you know it will start to reduce. But if another criterion is placed on it then maybe life will improve and the quality of it better. The mind is not always useful and so my reaction after my experiment was to laugh at myself for being so fearful in the beginning “there it is again my bloody mind.....thanks for that mind I really needed it.......NOT!
newsletter. Then rethink and ask yourself the following questions :Q Am I fostering the relationship by By Matt Broadway-Horner acting this way? and Q2 Do I have The anger 4 step is one that can more than one option here? If the help in the stickiest of situations. answer to those questions is no This is a useful exercise when used then go back and get calm until at the point of return. This is the you are able to see the bigger point of control not the point of no picture. return and the anger has swept you Once achieved then step 4 is away. to go back to the situation/person Walk away is step one, this and give a response. And you being an excuse you make to step might find out that when some out of the situation, giving the time has elapsed that the issue is other person an option “ Can we not important anymore and decide discuss this later?’ and then get that its a waste of time getting calm using the attentional training angry and may help to rebuild exercise mentioned in the previous relationships.
CBTMONTHLY November 3rd 2010
what is acceptance and commitment therapy? an approach within the cbt tradition By Matt Broadway-Horner
ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) has acquired its name from the central message of accepting experiences which are outside of your personal control and beyond your means to enable any actions that may improve or better a situation or lifestyle When using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) people can develop for themselves a better more meaningful living, while maintaining the ability to handle the stress and pains which everyone will experience at some time in there existence Using Mindfulness based therapies your mind can taught the personal and physiological skills to deal with dark or difficult thought and feelings, making them less important and thus reducing the impact they have on your general living ACT can help people see clearly in there mind and encourage what they truly believe are the important factors in life for a stable well being. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can inspire and motive your mind, clearing your thoughts from negative to positive thinking methods which will cleanse, inspire and motivate ones self, understanding and the disciplines required to move forward to a healthy mental progression and personal self change Mindfulness based ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) is different from the more traditional CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) as instead to challenging difficult, painful and distressing thoughts by challenging the problems. ACT employs a range of techniques which enables an individual to accept the thoughts and employ methods of Mindfulness, metaphors and language to reduce the concern and repetitive negative thought patterns.
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Building a path for change Confidence to take actionoffor self Core Principles ACT: improvement Creating a natural fusion ACT your may bethoughts used in the treatment with of many problems including Evaluation of each addictions, anxiety, chronic pain, diabetes experience management, psychosis, stress, smoking Avoidance of your and problems workplace experience For more information concerning Developing a reason Therapy Acceptance and Commitment giving towards contact Mindfulness andyour the City with behaviour CBT in the City
Matt Broadway-Horner
Therapy :Accept your personal
The basics of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) treatments have been developed to train the mind in ways of observing your life experience at this present moment without judgement or fear. Mindfulness based ACT helps us protect, defuse and distance ones thoughts, reactions and sensations ACT is, at its core the psychological and mental suffering which is most usually caused by cognitive entanglement, avoidance of an experience and the psychological stubbornness which may lead to a failure to take control and develop the required behavioural changes in accordance with core values Core Principles of ACT: Creating a natural fusion with your thoughts Evaluation of each experience Avoidance of your experience Developing a reason giving towards your behaviour Core Principles a healthy alternative is to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Accept your personal reactions and be present.
Building a path for changeConfidence to take action for self improvement ACT may be used in the treatment of many problems including addictions, anxiety, chronic pain, diabetes management, psychosis, stress, smoking and problems workplace For more information concerning Acceptance and Commitment Therapy contact Mindfulness and the City with CBT in the City
CBTMONTHLY November 3rd 2010
The third component is Anxiety and feeling this will confirm they they look nervous and in public view. Others may see that they are blushing, sweating or shaking which will lead to others believing that they are anxious. And if anxious then they will look weird and or be rejected.
Matt Broadway-Horner
what is social phobia? understanding is key By Matt Broadway-Horner
This is an anxiety disorder that is a problem in social situations. Three components play a vital part in keeping the problem maintained and if left untreated can lead to a chronic disablement with some becoming housebound. The first part is in the thought world. The sufferer will hold negative predictions about the social event. They believe that they are boring and that others will also believe this, which may accompany other thoughts which they perceive will ultimately confirm that they are weird or will be rejected.
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In order to make sure that rejection or being weird is not confirmed the person will use Safety Seeking Behaviours. This is the second component and these behaviours are used to bring the Anxiety down, like e.g.
squeezing or holding tightly a glass-this with the sole aim to reduce the anxiety. These behaviours are vitally important to keeping the person safe and making sure that they are not under the spotlight from others people perceptions. If they are not under scrutiny then others will not think the worst and confirm their fears of being remembered as being boring or weird. The third component is Anxiety and feeling this will confirm they they look nervous and in public view. Others may see that they are blushing, sweating or shaking which will lead to others believing that they are anxious. And if anxious then they will look weird and or be rejected. If you want to learn to overcome Social Phobia then contact the clinic on 020 7558 8894 or email matt@cbtinthecity.com
CBTMONTHLY November 3rd 2010
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overcoming obsessive compulsive disorder a testimonial By Sophie
My name is Sophie. I'm in my mid-thirties, married with two children. I'm educated to post-graduate level and have worked for a number of large media organisations and government departments. All rather unremarkable, yet this is the type of situation I find myself in: I'm sitting on my friend Mel's sofa, having a chat and a cup of tea with her and her mum. Meanwhile our daughters are playing hospitals upstairs. The atmosphere is relaxed and cordial. After a while I need to get up and go to the loo, but as I stand up I can see myself picking up my tea cup and hurling the tepid contents all over Mel's horrified mother. And if that's not enough I kick her toddler son, who was sitting on the rug, across the floor. I don't know why I did it, I just lost control. A moment of madness. Just like the time when I pushed my young daughter down the stairs and grabbed her around the neck until she almost stopped breathing. Or the time I publicly accused my uncle of being a sex pest when I knew he was no such thing. Or the time, I spat in my boss's face. Totally vile and deplorable behaviour, but I couldn't help it. It was the absolutely last thing I wanted to do, but the thoughts crossed my mind so it must be mean I'll act on them, right? Wrong.
carries them out? Well, what I do know is that these thoughts are all about what I don't want to do. They are irrational and distressing. I know that the more I try and banish them from my mind, the more pervasive they will be. I know that avoiding a situation associated with the thought, will not help me in the long run. The avoidance will give me short-term relief, but in the long term, it will reinforce the notion that the situation is dangerous. So for instance, when my daughter was born, I was terrified that I might harm her. Knives in particular worried me greatly. What if, in a moment of uncontrollable madness, I hurt her with a knife? I'm embarrassed when I look back on it now, but it got to the point where I gathered up all the knives from the kitchen and threw them down the gutter outside our house. I was in turmoil. I didn't quite know what was wrong with me, but I really thought that I had started to lose the plot and I could not see a way out.
This is when I contacted a psychiatrist who recommended cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Rather than seeking avoidance, my treatment involved facing the problem and feeling the anxiety that was associated with it. This exercise, or Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is not just 'exposure' involved using knives to prepare food about cleaning, or counting, or hoarding. It can also when I was alone with my daughter (I had to take the form of repeated, unwanted, intrusive imagine that courgettes were baby arms!), watching thoughts. In my case, the thoughts take the form of slasher films, reading newspaper articles about harming or upsetting others. A friend might have people who had attacked others with knives, given me a present and the OCD thought will be: sleeping with a knife under the pillow, leaving sharp what if you threw it out of the window? Or if I'm knives out on the counter all day, basically anything alone, looking after my lovely daughter, the thought to induce that sense of anxiety that I was so might be: what if you smothered her with that determined to avoid. The point was that the pillow? The thoughts are always awful and horrible. anxiety-provoking situations became less painful and But the worry is what if I lost control and just did it? intense the more I was exposed to them. This was a In a moment of craziness. The thoughts come and practical way of helping me overcome the knife go, but normally I'll have at least one every day. thoughts, as they no longer induced anxiety. Some days they bother me, some days they don't. When they bother me, I feel out of control and This is just an example of the CBT exercises disturbed that my mind can conjure such horror that I have done and still do. I'd recommend CBT with no effort at all. What kind of mind does that? to anyone with OCD. Don't let it take over your life. What does it say about me? Do I have an inner psychopath struggling to get out? Can I be trusted? For further information about treatment then What makes me different from someone who thinks contact the clinic on 02075588894 or email those kind of thoughts and someone who actually matt@cbtinthecity.com
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CBTMONTHLY November 3rd 2010
CBTMONTHLY November 3rd 2010
what did cognitive behaviour therapy do for me! testimonial
For help with Generalised Anxiety Disorder then contact the clinic today on 020 7558 8894 0r email matt@cbtinthecity. com
By Francesca
I was referred for anxiety by the occupational health department but I did not know it was Generalised Anxiety Disorder or the worrying disease! I worried about everything and developed some hard and fast rules for living. These rules were about how others should treat me and these created a huge distance between me and others. I did not invest time in making friends as I believed that they would let me down and I would really angry when they did the smallest thing wrong. I worried to show I cared but then the cares would be too many and I felt I was gonna go crazy. I was getting demoralised and would end up in tears often. The therapy helped me to understand this cycle and what I understood helped me to stop worrying and allow life to ‘just be’. I realised that I cannot control other people and that I should allow my self to be happy and experience the moment without needing to know with absolute certainty what will happen next. It was the ‘what if.....’ that was causing my problem. Now I enjoy life much more now and my partner has noticed a big difference and he is very grateful to the clinic.
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Matt Broadway-Horner Editor 10 Harley Street London W1G9PF