Posted by baseball55 on December 30, 2012, at 20:06:50
In reply to Re: Does therapy really help anyone? » Meltingpot, posted by Phil on December 30, 2012, at 17:38:23
My p-doc, who was also my therapist for a number of years, is a firm believer in the idea that mental illnesses are bio-psycho-social disorders and therefore cannot be solved with either meds or therapy alone. For me, the combination of dynamic therapy with him (to deal with childhood trauma) and DBT (which he insisted upon, going so far as to meet with me and the DBT therapist twice), has been extremely important. But the bio component can't be ignored. You do need meds if you have a mood disorder. DBT is most effective for people who have intense and continual suicidal and self-harm compulsions (which I did). I'm not so sure how helpful it is for depression in itself. CBT is supposed to be very helpful for major depressive disorder, when combined with meds.
But you have to be willing to do the work in therapy. It's not a one-hour a week proposition. You have to work at it and think about it constantly to develop coping skills. For me, this took years, not months. I still have bouts of severe depression, but I have learned how to keep them from spiraling so far down that I end up in a hospital.
In a few months, I will have gone two years without attempting suicide or being hospitalized, after three years of repeated hospitalizations and three, very near-miss, suicide attempts.
DBT has been most helpful. I still meet with my p-doc twice a month for dynamic therapy, but I feel this is mostly done, that I just have a hard time saying goodbye to him. Lamictal also noticeably reduced suicidal ideation and downward spirals.
poster:baseball55
thread:1034234
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20121217/msgs/1034248.html