Depression and Computerised CBT (Cognitive Behavorial Therapy)

[tamaranth]

Just wrote a mini-essay in comments to someone's post about this article.

It is no substitute for a real face-to-face session with a counsellor, but in the absence of the necessary resources - and with some 10 million people reporting mental health problems - Beating the Blues is not an entirely worthless stab at countering an intractable problem.

My comment:
I've done the computerised CBT course discussed in that article, and I found it *better* than a real counsellor. It didn't say things that I took the wrong way (like the counsellor who thought it was funny that I dislike phone calls) and if I wasn't in the mood or the right emotional frame for a session, I could retake it or postpone it without hassle. I skipped the bits that really didn't relate to my issues (since I'd already done some CBT before and had some idea of what was and wasn't relevant) and spent more time on the bits that made most sense.

To which I add:
Several of the article's points echo my own complaints about the programme content:
- the difficulty of dealing with one's own false beliefs;
- the suspicion that the Examples are actually all losers whose emotional issues bear no resemblance to one's own;
- the dubious value of claiming one's successes and rationalising away one's failures.)

But I did give these positive spin:
- if you recognise a false belief, it's easier to take it into account when trying to think about an issue;
- the Examples may well be losers but if I am reacting half as irrationally as them then I ... oh, wait;
- I would rather claim success than claim failure.

I don't think CBT is effective for everyone, and I certainly didn't get much out of earlier face-to-face weekly sessions. The online version gave me quite a few insights I hadn't had before and the format was more flexible.

Comments

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

> I've done the computerised CBT course discussed in that article, and I found it *better* than a real counsellor.

It's a relief to read that someone else had this experience, too.

[ladymoonray.livejournal.com]

Following on from: if I wasn't in the mood or the right emotional frame for a session, I could retake it or postpone it

I think it's also worth noting that there are points in some people's experience at which CBT is most definitely not the right thing. In extreme situations is can make things worse, and if you're doing it on-line it's a LOT easier to walk away. That's not always the right thing to do, but sometimes it is, and usually that time comes at a point when one is really not in the mood to do battle with a counsellor.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Absolutely -- and there were sessions that I found very unpleasant first time round, but were useful when I tried again in a better frame of mind.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

Ooh interesting stuff. I had to practise some of this earlier today and in the end, I think distraction worked quite well at breaking the mood until I could go back and see I'd been over-reacting.

Very tiring stuff though.