Does cognitive behaviour therapy help?

I am in second lot of CBT at the moment i find it very helpful in the short term, As when having a bad day had to focus on what been taught..  I also struggle with anxiety lupus and APS the symptoms are all alike. I find myself getting more stressed as not knowing what is causing what?? docs keep trying to put me on meds, times get so down i will try anything to take symptoms away and feel me again. Though with my anxiety i end up not taking them... Its a on going struggle to accept life has to change. Still not sure about the meds though. 

I am a fibro sufferer and I'm also a counsellor. I found my own personal therapy extremely useful for examining the impact fibro has had on my blog fe, beginning to accept it and work alongside it rather than against it. 

I had person centred counselling and am also a person centered counsellor with an interest in helping people who suffer from the invisible yet life changing conditions people have.

CBT can be useful for fibro as can.other types of therapy such as that which I practice.

I have never tried CBT or other similar treatments, but I am very interested in them and I'm considering trying it. I have mainly heard positive things- such as what @smiler75 is saying, it is very helpful in the short term. 

@blueprincess1976 - it must be such a great help to have your own "tools" to help you work with the fibro. Glad to hear it is working. 

I think it's time to try CBT!

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I have made an appointment and have my first session in 3 weeks. Very interesting! Hope it can help me. Smiler75, I really hope you feel better soon. Sounds like a terrible combination of conditions you have. I hope to have the same results with CBT as you.

blueprincess1976, I think you are on to something with working alongside the fibro, not against it. "Keep your friends close, your enemies closer"' right? I think I have been waisting a lot of my precious energy on fighting this disease instead of learning how to deal with it. So I am really due for some tools to help me. 

Thanks!

I have NO Idea what cbt is All (actually) about?

Hello tiredchris, I'm no expert but I've been doing it now for a while and what I can explain is that it is a psicological therapy which helps a lot to learn to manage your pain and also it helps a lot with insomnia and depression. So they take you through phases, first knowing well your condition, the facts and not myths which then helps you to see what things you can actually do or implment/avoid in your life to live with the condition. Then the second part is the best, here you learn skills to reduce the pain, so you learn relaxation techniques amongst others. And there is a third one which I'm not there yet but apparently is to learn to apply everything you've learned on an everyday basis or situations, sth ike that.

I can tell you that for me it has been life changing. I was a bit skeptical at first and most cause you think it is going to be therapy in which they are going to try to convince you that everything is in your head and you are not really sick, but no... They help you to manage your pain and that is the most impresive part.

I went for group CBT and found it no good at all.. I ended up taking home other peoples problems and didn't find it much different from pain management..it was more like managing moods...I suppose it's only has good as the counsellors..

Hi,I live in Hull,England; & I'm nearly finished doing a "Expert Patients Programme",which (I strongly Think), is Virtually the same thing.....   :)      - Do a 'google search' for more details...   :)

   - Its ok,But its NOT an excuse for the Govt/NHS  NOT  doing more research into CFS/ME/FMA - & WHAT CURES IT....   :)

*I Wish More brits would go onto the Prime Ministers site www.number10.gov.uk  & 'nagging' him to spend More ££ on medical research - to help get us Completely Cured....  :)

Politics/Money get into EVERYTHING...

Regards