I wasn’t a great fan of CBT – until I looked back at my recovery and realised that I’d been using the techniques all the way along.
The diarising and emotional detecting and practical planning have obviously been worth the effort because the moment I wobble, the positive voice kicks back in; and, whenever I take the next step, I go back to the tools and tips that have got me this far.
Unlike traditional therapy, you don’t have to keep paying out every time you need to sort a few things out. Once you’ve mastered the techniques, you’re equipped for life.
CBT is a mix of therapy and mind training and self help. It’s all about understanding the patterns between feelings – and actions – so that you can start changing what’s going on. More than any other approach, it helps you to challenge your behaviour on a daily basis – which is precisely what you need to do when you’re trying to shrug off an eating disorder.
It’s hard to get a rational perspective when you’re in the middle of it all. Feelings and food and behaviours and routines get all mixed up and tangled together so that one becomes synonymous with the other, or it’s difficult to work out which is cause – and which effect.
CBT helps you to make sense of it a little. It’s about noticing that feeling A leads to behaviour B; or that behaviour C represents feeling D -
If you can establish – with the help of a little CBT diary keeping – that every time you’re bored, you end up binging, you know what you’ve got to work on. If your ‘how am I feeling today’ rating plummets when you’ve felt angry, then half the puzzle is solved – and you can learn how to manage anger differently. When an eating disorder has become the daily routine, a few pre-planned CBT experiments can gradually help you to re-write the script.
And it can talk you through the process.
CBT gives you the evidence – and the argument – to change. It takes the emphasis out of your head – places it back into the real world – and encourages you to move forward by learning from the past.
If I can appreciate that my fears around changing one behaviour did not materialise, then breaking the next bad habit will be a little less daunting; and, when I understand the chain, I can break the change down into steps – and start going in the right direction.
CBT does not let you stand still for long.
It’s refreshing to come across an approach that is as much about doing as it is about thinking. When you become your own doctor / detective / observer, than you can only learn by watching and challenging.
You’re almost forced to try out new things – just so that you can monitor the effect –
- and going forward is far easier when there’s a strong framework and a little rationality to hold you in place.
Tags: Treatment
