TheBanyanTree: Cognitive Behavorial Therapy

[Dave]

>
> As for implicit details, you should see some of the implicit details Stew
> wrote about, during his battle with mental illness. Talk about freaky. But
> look . . . he won. He got better. Not all the way better, he didn't have
> time before he died, but he got better. He dealt with a lot of issues, and
> he still had more issues to deal with. I don't think we're ever entirely
> free of all our issues, there'll always be something else, something hidden
> away, or right out in the open for that matter, something waiting to be
> dealt with.
>
> "Take a number, please, I can't get to all of you at once."
>
> Stew wanted his lessons to help others, so he didn't mind sharing every
> horrifying little detail. That was his mission, his reason. But not everyone
> travels that path, and the only thing that really matters is that you be
> honest with yourself. It's yourself you have to live with (I've tried, in
> the distant past, making arrangements with myself to live elsewhere so I'd
> stop getting in my way, but negotiations broke down) and it's your own path
> you need to forge.

I don't mind sharing, but not everything. I share because I believe it is important for people 
to look past the stigma surrounding mental health issues. Especially depression. The word 
conjures up sadness and weakness. If more people learn how out of control depression/anxiety 
can become it might be viewed more as an illness. I belive some forms of mental illness to be 
very painful. Actual physical pain and reduced brain function. So a person constantly hurts and 
is not the person they remember being. It can be so devastating that I understand suicide so 
much better.

>
> However, you are not entirely alone on this path. We're always here.
>
> And CBT works, often.
>
> And disability claims can try to suck the life out of you. I have here in my
> office reams of paper of disability claims for Stew, and he eventually won
> when a judge said, "How did this even get this far?" Don't let the bastards
> get you down -- concentrate on the here and now and where you want to go.
> And do what it takes to get there.
>
> (I'm thinking I should follow my own advice.)
>
> Monique
CBT does work. As a matter of fact I'm late right now for my therapist.

Thanks Monique,
Dave Seaman