![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by pinkeye on February 9, 2005, at 12:55:10
hi fallsfall,
I am interested in knowing as to why you changed from CBT to psycho dynamic? Is psycho dynamic better at getting into your feelings and changing them directly?
Thanks
Pinkeye.
Posted by fallsfall on February 9, 2005, at 19:53:24
In reply to Question for fallsfall, posted by pinkeye on February 9, 2005, at 12:55:10
Hi Pinkeye,
I was in CBT for 8 1/2 years, and I did learn a lot. But it got to a point where I felt like we needed to go deeper, and she couldn't do that. I also was mixed up in a very strong transference, and she either didn't recognize that, or didn't know what to do with it.
I do find them very different, and the Psychodynamic therapy is definately what I need now. CBT was great when I was suicidal for the first time - I learned lots of helpful skills. But I always felt like telling myself to feel differently than I was feeling was asking myself to lie, so CBT didn't seem to allow me to change things - it just helped me to cope better when things didn't change. There was enough pain in my life that just coping wasn't enough.
In my Psychodynamic therapy (which is tending towards Analysis these days, I think), we work a lot with transference. I see him 3/week (and that frequency is important for me). We are able to identify the transference, and contrast how I'm feeling with the reality of the situation. We also look at other times when I've felt that way and try to identify patterns. We try to identify my unconscious motivations (this is really hard for me), and I am getting better at seeing how my unconscious motivations and conscious motivations are in conflict. I guess a lot of it is "making the unconscious conscious", because when it becomes conscious, then you can start to work with it.
It has been excruciatingly painful much of the time, but I *am* getting better, so for me the pain is worthwhile. I can tell I'm getting better because I shower when I need to, I care whether my floors are vacuumed (not that I always vacuum them if they aren't, but at least now I care), I'm able to do more challenging things at work, and I'm able to stand up to my 16 year old.
Why do you ask?
Posted by pinkeye on February 9, 2005, at 21:12:44
In reply to Re: Question for fallsfall, posted by fallsfall on February 9, 2005, at 19:53:24
Hi FallsFall,
Thanks for the detailed response. I have been kind of having cbt for sometime now, and was just thinking this way. With CBT, we try to change the way we feel with our thoughts right? But what if feelings are not fully subserviant to thoughts? What if they are superior and are not always controlled by our thoughts? Like, knowing that you should feel happy is different from actually being happy right? Just because you know all the right things, doesn't make you feel like a wonderful and happy person. So I was wondering if there is any way psychodynamic therapy can reach out to feelings directly instead of going through thoughts all the time. I feel CBT is great and is needed as the first step and corrects upto 90 % of the feelings, but the rest 10 % may just be beyond our CBTs reach.
Pinkeye.> Hi Pinkeye,
>
> I was in CBT for 8 1/2 years, and I did learn a lot. But it got to a point where I felt like we needed to go deeper, and she couldn't do that. I also was mixed up in a very strong transference, and she either didn't recognize that, or didn't know what to do with it.
>
> I do find them very different, and the Psychodynamic therapy is definately what I need now. CBT was great when I was suicidal for the first time - I learned lots of helpful skills. But I always felt like telling myself to feel differently than I was feeling was asking myself to lie, so CBT didn't seem to allow me to change things - it just helped me to cope better when things didn't change. There was enough pain in my life that just coping wasn't enough.
>
> In my Psychodynamic therapy (which is tending towards Analysis these days, I think), we work a lot with transference. I see him 3/week (and that frequency is important for me). We are able to identify the transference, and contrast how I'm feeling with the reality of the situation. We also look at other times when I've felt that way and try to identify patterns. We try to identify my unconscious motivations (this is really hard for me), and I am getting better at seeing how my unconscious motivations and conscious motivations are in conflict. I guess a lot of it is "making the unconscious conscious", because when it becomes conscious, then you can start to work with it.
>
> It has been excruciatingly painful much of the time, but I *am* getting better, so for me the pain is worthwhile. I can tell I'm getting better because I shower when I need to, I care whether my floors are vacuumed (not that I always vacuum them if they aren't, but at least now I care), I'm able to do more challenging things at work, and I'm able to stand up to my 16 year old.
>
> Why do you ask?
Posted by fallsfall on February 9, 2005, at 21:43:17
In reply to Re: Question for fallsfall - open to all., posted by pinkeye on February 9, 2005, at 21:12:44
I find that my Psychodynamic therapy allows me to access my unconscious thoughts, whereas CBT was restricted to my conscious thoughts. (To the point that after 8 1/2 years of CBT and 1 year of Psychodynamic therapy I was convinced that I didn't *have* any unconscious thoughts - other people did, but not me!) I think that the unconscious thoughts are the ones that control those feelings that don't respond to conscious (i.e. CBT) reasoning. When you can bring the unconscious thoughts into consciousness, then you can start to make headway on them. I guess CBT would have worked better for me if I didn't have as much important stuff hidden in my unconscious. Maybe other people have less conflict between their conscious and unconscious directions than I do... Maybe other people are less resistant to seeing their unconscious motivations...
But the short answer is "yes". At least for me, Psychodynamic therapy has allowed me to start to make a dent in those feelings that don't seem to respond to CBT interventions.
Posted by pinkeye on February 9, 2005, at 21:53:46
In reply to Re: Question for fallsfall - open to all. » pinkeye, posted by fallsfall on February 9, 2005, at 21:43:17
thanks a lot falls. I will keep that in mind next time when I have to go to therapy. I don't know if I have too much unconscious stuff hidden or anything - I don't think so. But still whatever is beyond the reach of my conscious ability to change - it might be worthwhile to try this one for a while atleast.
I am also hightly interested in psychology - just out of my own curiosity - what makes people behave the way they do and how to make them feel better etc.. so I like exploring things to satisfy my curiosity as well.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Psychology | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.