The fact that I “have” anxiety does not make me a failure at being a human. And I don’t “have” anxiety because of some personal failing. Anxiety is just a part of me–a part of everyone, really. The goal has never been to eliminate it completely, but to learn to manage and tolerate it. Continue reading CBT DIARIES | Sessions 8-12: Life After CBT
You are fire.
You are grit.
The world is better
because you’re in it.
Continue reading INTERLUDE: Fire & Grit
I kept thinking, I *actually* have social anxiety. It isn’t just a fluke that I’m here, or some intellectual exercise, as I’ve been approaching it. I thought I was further along than this… Continue reading CBT DIARIES | Sessions 5-7: It’s Actually Hard Now…
Basically, if you’re willing to have a standoff with your anxiety, it will eventually fall asleep, unlike the preschooler who tried to engage me in conversation all last night. He won that battle. But I can win the war on anxiety. Continue reading CBT DIARIES | Session 4: Exposure Therapy Begins (aka DO NOT WANT)
This is a hard post to write.
The topics I’ve been reading about this week, and the terms I’ve been learning, paint a picture of where this post is going. Eating disorders. Orthorexia. Subjective binge eating. Social anxiety. Comorbidity. Continue reading THE PLOT THICKENS | This is hard to talk about…
If you’ve been following my CBT Diaries series, then you may remember that there’s a cognitive distortion called “catastrophizing.” In a nutshell, it means predicting that some “worst case scenario” cascade of events will occur in a given situation.
Most of the time, the worst case scenario doesn’t happen.
BUT TODAY IT DID. Continue reading SILVER LININGS AND SPILLED LUNCHES | Today I rolled with the punches
The magic started to happen this week, because after learning about cognitive distortions, the real goal is to challenge those distortions with a more realistic thought process.
Countering a distortion involves asking healthier, more realistic questions to help pull you away from the brain bully’s toxic thought-vortex. Continue reading CBT Diaries | Session 3: F*ck you, brain bully!
Everyone has moments of wonky thinking. What is life if not a collection of subjective experiences? But people with social anxiety disorder (SAD) can be practically drowning in distortions (me) and this affects their well-being and mental health. And in the case of SAD, these distortions usually focus on our performance or what people think of us. Continue reading CBT Diaries | Session 2: Cognitive distortions
How many of us measure our worth by the number on the scale? The lower the number, the higher your value! If the number is lower than you expect, then you get to be accordingly happy today. If it’s higher… you’d better berate yourself for being a bad disciple of diet doctrine. Continue reading WORTH MY WEIGHT | Toxic Diet Culture
Cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT, is a type of therapy that focuses on reframing the way you think. You learn to catch those kneejerk negative thoughts and redirect them into a healthier and more positive direction.
CBT is the gold standard for the treatment of anxiety disorders.
And what’s even better than CBT for the treatment of social anxiety (my primary struggle at the moment)? CBT in a group setting. Continue reading CBT DIARIES | Session 1: You’re not alone
