Posted by DaisyM on December 26, 2003, at 13:43:22
In reply to Therapist Orientation? CBT or psychodynamic?, posted by mattdds on December 26, 2003, at 1:52:24
Matt,
I agree with Dinah. I think some of the negativity you've observed is more about the Therapist and their actions/reactions to the client -- not their orientation.
I have experience with both in very different ways: my son (12) had pretty severe anxiety attacks and he started seeing a Therapist who is primarily CBT oriented. They worked on many types of coping techniques AND they worked on "admitting" which means figuring out what you are really worried about and dealing with it. It has worked really well for him. 14 months later he is ready (though I am nervous) to terminate.
For me, when I finally admitted that I was increasingly overwhelmed and stressed out, I wanted a Therapist with whom I could "just" talk to. Someone who didn't have a preconceived notion of how competent I was, especially since my main coping strategy is always to look at the options for solving the problem, choose one and move on. That isn't to say that I still didn't (ok, do) ask for intellectual explanations of "what is happening to me/!" :) I think if I was working with a Therapist who was CBT oriented I would have mastered the techniques, said thank you very much and left therapy, probably feeling better about the depression but with a likeliood of it coming back.
Why? Because after 3 or 4 months I finally realized that what I needed to do was talk about a trauma that I had never ever talked about before. My Therapist, who is psychodynamically oriented, uses some of the CBT techniques like reality testing or corrective thinking, but he is really pretty interested in how I feel about stuff, especially him. I think he really believes that therapy is the "corrective emotional experience" needed to heal. (I say fix, he says heal) I can't imagine going through all of this without someone who can just be there for me sometimes and yet push me others.
So, again, Dinah is right. I think what works for one person may not for the next and depends on the issue(s) you are dealing with.
What do you think about the efficacy studies of one vs. the other?
poster:DaisyM
thread:293462
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20031221/msgs/293534.html