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RE: Psychology Addict # 25 | Depression through the lens of CBT & the case study of Mr. B.

in #psychology7 years ago (edited)

Another great read. So, I have gone through TWO rounds of CPT (cognitive processing therapy). I'm not sure if it's the same, but it sounds like it is. So, what follows is simply my own experience with the whole process. My problem with things like CPT and modern mental health in general, is the approach in which it's dealt with. Sterile rooms, distracted therapists, factory-production style psychiatry. My CPT sessions were each twelve weeks in duration. One in a group, the other as a one-on-one approach. I understood the goal of the treatment, but for me, as you say in your post, it's a therapy that won't necessarily work for everyone. It wasn't for lack of being involved or being proactive; I've been incredibly proactive about my mental health. (Starting therapy almost as soon as I got back from Afghanistan). The approach of sitting down, writing, talking, and doing it all over again just didn't seem to take. You ask whether or not it's situation or meaning, and as a combat veteran, I think it's both. Sometimes it's hard to separate the situation from the emotion. In combat, you are constantly running on such base emotion and primal instinct, that those two become inseparable. When you train for combat, you're hammering back all those emotions that would come flooding forward, the "fight-or-flight" responses, and so you are actively over-riding those pathways. As weird as it sounds, it's easier to train your mind into that "always-ready" state than it is to bring it out of it. And so now, as a combat veteran, when you approach situations like large crowds, that situation triggers an emotion, a ready-state, based on actual experience. We had a saying, basically, the Marine Corps did a great job of training us for war, but a horrible job of training us to come back, and re-integrate into society. Of course, not every Veteran that experiences combat has PTSD, but many, if not most, will undoubtedly have some residual effects left-over from the experience of combat. Anxiety. Depression.
Also, in my experience, I've learned that PTSD in combat veterans seems to have a common theme; most having already dealt with a previous traumatic experience, (being molested, raped, abuse, alcohol and chaos in the home; which is where I'd fall in, the alcohol and chaos and fighting.)
Now, when I start having those feeling, I take to my writing, or I head out into the woods for fresh air and nature. It's tricky though because my depression is heavy, and comes on like a tide in the ocean. All of the sudden, I'm sitting on the bench of my own life-game, even during the beautiful moments. If it's real bad, I turn to Psilocybin mushrooms, as those have had the most profound impact on my entire outlook on life, my mental health. So, all is not doom and gloom. Healing can, and is, occurring. Thanks for casting light on these kinds of topics! I enjoy these articles!

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Just one question.. What is CPT?

Here is the Wikipedia definition of CPT:
Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a manualized therapy used by clinicians to help people recover from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related conditions.[1] It includes elements of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatments. A typical 12-session run of CPT has proven effective in treating PTSD across a variety of populations, including combat veterans,[2][3][4] sexual assault victims,[5][6][7] and refugees.[8] CPT can be provided in individual and group treatment formats.
Basically, you sit down with a therapist, they give you worksheets on feelings and you're supposed to go home, write down a significant situation/feeling that arises, and why it might make you feel this way. You then write how you could respond to it differently. Then, you discuss it with said therapist, during the allotted time slot, (since they have fifty other vets to see that day), in hopes of re-training the brain to approach feeling/situation/emotion differently. I guess for me, it was too standardized, too formulaic. That's not how my mind works, ever worked. We also did an abbreviated form of this during my stay at Laurel Ridge, a psychiatric hospital with a military-specific wing in San Antonio. It's interesting that this is what the VA uses, yet, even when Veterans go through these "standardized" treatments and sensory-dulling medications, they still end up killing themselves or descending deeper into depression, isolation. I've had to talk more vets than I care to think about from taking that plunge down the dark abyss of suicide. Already lost one good friend to it. So, something isn't working. There's a break down in the system at the human level. Of course, this is just my own opinion.

@therightsideofup, again, THANK you so much for taking the time to teach us so much about a reality that is so far-fetched to, I dare to say, all of us here taking part in this debate. Throughout your post I was first, particularly touched by this:

Also, in my experience, I've learned that PTSD in combat veterans seems to have a common theme; most having already dealt with a previous traumatic experience, (being molested, raped, abuse, alcohol and chaos in the home; which is where I'd fall in, the alcohol and chaos and fighting.)but a horrible job of training us to come back, and re-integrate into society

Now, I want to look for literature that addresses this reality! Books, papers... etc...

I have com across this information before.

Also, in my experience, I've learned that PTSD in combat veterans seems to have a common theme; most having already dealt with a previous traumatic experience, (being molested, raped, abuse, alcohol and chaos in the home; which is where I'd fall in, the alcohol and chaos and fighting.)

This is also something worth looking into. Considering that so many have these common aspects I would be particularly interesting in learning how their expectations from the experience they are going to encounter are similar.

I read your post about your experience Psilocybin mushrooms, I found it very enlightening.

Thanks for your always kind, encouraging words about my work!
All the best to you :)

Any time! You put out high-quality, thought-provoking material on a subject that interests me. It was interesting, to realize that other Veterans dealing with PTSD had some type of significant trauma, buried deep in their past. It took another traumatic event, such as combat or the clean-up crew that had to literally pick up body parts of their friends after an IED blast. The band-aid of Time was ripped off, reopening old wounds, and adding a few more to it. Of course, the other aspect is support, and sadly, many had support systems that were failing, or just didn't believe in PTSD to begin with. The Veteran community even cannibalizes itself on this topic.