Therapy with Alison - Testimonials
I think it's important you read about the experience of others and these six testimonials are the experience of ordinary folks with their own difficulties, problems and worries. They were good enough to give me their accounts to let me summarise how they found therapy with me.
I've included them to give you a feel of how they felt CBT worked positively for them. They were all able to describe how they have found CBT helpful in affecting change where they needed it most... they also acknowledge it wasn't always easy but with support, easier!
They described how changing their thinking and changing specific behaviours they now enjoy improvements to their mental health and general well being.
"It had just got that I couldn't think straight, it was anxiety, I just felt a mess and was going round and round! Working with Alison and using CBT got things straightened out. It was working through my thoughts that helped as I didn't realise my thoughts and feelings were linked into how I reacted day to day, I had got so muddled"
"I was always anxious but just found it got worse and worse over daft things, sometimes I didn't even know why! then I started having panic attacks. I was having them at home and at work. I got in touch with Alison after having one in the supermarket. My thoughts were all over the place and I was so paranoid I'd have an attack all the time. I was taking time off work as I couldn't cope. Talking about it helped and understanding my response to stress and working on behavioural changes had a huge impact. That was tough right enough, we'd set up planned experiments to work on the avoidance and fear part and change my automatic responses. It was hard but I got there! "
"I'd been using alcohol for ages just to avoid thinking about things or feeling things. My health and mood were awful. I was waking up wanting a drink and I was depressed, my family were worried sick. I made a decision to try private CBT, best thing I've done. It took a few sessions and it wasn't always easy but as time went in and I worked on changing my behaviours
(I slipped a couple of times!), my mood lifted, the way I thought about things improved and I felt overall I was back in control."
"I'd been laid off from work and found I just wasn't coping and I was staying in the house more and more, I wasn't seeing family and making excuses to friends saying I was unwell or busy. I was just hiding away and got increasingly down. My thoughts were hellish...how I seen myself, how others must see me, I just felt useless and what was the point? Working through these thoughts and feelings in CBT just made things clearer, Negative thoughts were replaced and as my mood came up, my self-esteem got better and I'm back out and about!"
"I lost my Mum to illness and it was a year before I knew I needed some kind of help. I couldn't get past missing her and not having her there. I was thinking about her all the time and just miserable and so stuck in the past. I realised I was stuck and wasn't getting through it so rang Alison to fix an appointment. We worked through grief and my experience of it and just talking about it helped. Then it was looking how to adapt without my Mum and plan for my own life"
"I had been in a car accident and thought I had dealt with it ok. As the months went in it was my wife that pointed out I wasn't the same. My sleep was terrible and I was having nightmares, I was really snappy and agitated. I couldn't settle within myself. We looked up therapy and decided on CBT. I was worried it would actually make things worse, but it didn't. Talking through the trauma and my memories and unhelpful thoughts helped. Once I confronted the fear I felt more in control , it's really helped"
I'm sure you have your thoughts of how you wish things were different but not quite sure how to go about it.
Approaching a private therapist and working online may feel alien to you and there may be reservations! Some of these clients did initially too!
Take time to weigh up what support would mean to you, and what talking over issues you don't seem to escape, would mean to you. Have a think about what you'd like to achieve.
Don't be put off by the title, cognitive behaviour therapy, bottom line, this is a therapy that can be an effective tool to help anyone learn how to better manage stressful life situations.
“You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it.
You have to go down the chute.” Tina Fey