I’d like to hear about people’s most successful approaches or styles (even if unconventional), that helped them to overcome or at least get their various struggles under control.
So for example, Sinclair Method (naltrexone) [baclofen adjuvant] --> problem drinking.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, pronounced “act”) not only helped me with generalized anxiety (which I no longer suffer from), but it also opened the door to fascinating research that I have been reading about ever since.
It is transdiagnostic because it exploits the fundamental building blocks and processes of cognition. In other words, it helps everyone who has mental health problems, as long as they are verbal (so nonverbal autistic people may require other therapy).
It is also ‘superdiagnostic’, because it improves peoples lives regardless of whether they are diagnosed with a mental health disorder.
Anyone who wants to have more flexible cognition and change their behavior, all with an empirically validated approach, could benefit from ACT.
I was psychotic with delusions of grandeur for close to five years.
What saved me was a 9-month mindfulness based coaching course that taught me about presence, emotional self regulation, introspection, reflection and proper interpersonal communication. In the end they allowed me to see my delusions for what they were and that i had built my life on lies. These tools are now an integrated part of my personality and have helped me immensely in the years after, both in my personal relationships and in managing my mental illness (bipolar disorder type 1 and C-PTSD).
You should be able to learn the same techniques around emotional and reflective work if you look into certified MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) courses. Preferably in-person and at least 8-12 weeks long. Please note that these are scientific techniques detatched from the glorification and the muck that gets thrown around a lot in “spiritual” circles.
Today I’m studying public mental health work and do some work on the side of advicing researchers in the mental illness field, working to make training in these techniques into an integrated part of mental illness treatment.
I fully believe that if everyone was taught these tools as part of public education we would wipe out most of our political and societal issues withing a generation or two.
Other than that I’ve adopted a “listen to what the science says” mindset and make decisions based on what’s good for me such as getting regular exercise in ways that work and that i find fun and eating healthy within reasonable limits (the mind needs relaxation too, sometimes in the form of treats and indulgence). Getting an active dog has also helped me to secure a minimal level of activity for myself when things get tough.
Mindfulness is amazing. It helped me immensely with my anxiety and depression. Honestly, Mindfulness really needs to be part of every education curriculum.
Absoutely, but it needs to go way deeper than the surface level of meditation. Most people think that mindfulness is just a simple meditation technique, and that’s problematic in it’s own way.
Quitting my full time job has been the best thing I ever did for my mental health.
What changed in your life?
For example: I don’t think most people can leave a full time job. But I can see people changing their life up to make part time work.
I moved into an off-grid RV. No more rent, power or trash bills. Then I realized my car was costing me more then it’s usefulness at a time when the used car market was exploding. So I sold that and got a couple fold up electric scooters that fit into the RV’s storage compartment. These changes have drastically reduced my expenses.
I don’t know their style actually. Some therapists have been more effective, and those have basically been the ones I most trusted to open up.
You might have this backwards: the ones who helped you were able to do so because you felt like you could open up to them. It’s all about the relationship.
The ones that you found success with, how did they make you feel or what do you think was common to them besides the factyou trusted them. What comes next after that which is common to those mentioned?
Regular exercise, especially hiking.
I have an app that asks me how my day was, I have like 7 years of data based on a scale of 1-5. It colors it from a gradient of red to green and gives a relative emoji from happy to sad.
For 3 years, I challenged myself to go on a nearby hike once a day for a whole month. It’s not huge. Like 2 miles out and back, about 800ft vertical gain.
I can see so fucking clearly the three best months of the those entire 3 years were the one month of each year that I hiked nearly every day.
Talking like 2.7-3.1 avg vs 4.3-4.7avg. frown literally upside down.
Now I try to go on hikes like once a week.
Education and anecdotes. I work a therapist for about 30 mins every two weeks and honestly, I find much of their suggestions kinda neutral. I often ask how they fit to that suggestion. That’s where they recommend a book on the topic.
Reading their book recommendations is better for me, because their advice is now given in a format where I can read and review over and over. The books have anecdotes about other use cases. It has studies. It has research paper I can personally dig into.
Honestly, my therapist is less of a “let me explain” and more of a librarian who helps me find resources myself.
Drugs. Not medication, illegal drugs. Ymmv. I am not endorsing anything and this is legal nor medical advice.
Hi, Clinician here, just popping in to say that all theories of therapy basically say the same thing in different ways.
Don’t worry too much about treatment modality. Build a relationship with your counselor and put in some effort into bettering yourself.
Positive outcomes are something like 30% external factors, 40% counseling relationship, 10% therapist efforts, and 20% client effort.
I will always be thankful for Dialectical Behavior Therapy by Marsha Linehan. I have never been diagnosed as borderline, but the lack of basic coping and interpersonal skills was obvious. It wasn’t a cure, but it has given me a foundation on which I was able to move forward with deeper, therapeutic processes. Frankly, I think everyone should go thru all the modules at least once.
What basic practice informed by DBT could you suggest briefly? Like what is something I can do right now that is a nudge in the right direction?
I did Radically Open DBT (RO-DBT) which I found to be helpful with dealing with excessive perfectionism and hyper independence and it also helped me open up for other types of therapy. I’m currently doing a mixture of DBT, CBT and ACT and it’s painful but useful for traits of BPD and social anxiety.
watching Tony Soprano go to therapy and thinking “i wish therapy was really like this”
Years ago, someone suggested a book called ‘Discover What You’re Best At.’ by Linda Gail.
I had hated pretty much every job I’d ever had, then found one where I used my talents. Being able to get up on a rainy Monday and not be miserable was a life changer.
MBCT or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. Basically, it’s some of the core principles of Buddhism without any of the karma/rebirth woo-woo, practiced by a licensed psychotherapist, either individually or in a group. It was recommended to me for anxiety and depression and it has helped me stay grounded, recognizing and avoiding spiraling into hopelessness and resentment.
I’ve been reading books by Gabor Mate - recently finished When The Body Says No and almost done In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. Lots of stories and insights into how others cope with what has happened to them. It helps to look at your own experience and coping through a new lens.
I wonder if anyone has had any experience using psychedelics in therapy? Not sure if this was in one of these books or if I read about this elsewhere.
Isolate yourself from your demons both mentally and physically. Say take 200 days, workout at least twice a day with no access to your vices and get 10hrs of sleep a day. Remake your foundation physically then remake yourself mentally. Essentially tear yourself down to core primal essence and rebuild how you want to be. Then surround yourself with good people and build the skills you always wanted. It’s extremely tough mentally but when done you won’t recognize yourself afterwards, you’ll be a rock and hardened.
