Thoughts and feelings and CBT

Working, with D, on identifying and reframing these. I have an ambivalent attitude to CBT at times and there's a deep core of cynicism about the usefulness of such work for me. At the same time, it does sometimes work. Like the endeavours I put in to dealing with the latest (?last?) letter from BLPT. Although I remain totally dissatisfied with the response, and in fact with nearly all the responses I have had from this misnamed Trust, writing down how I was feeling and what I was thinking, then recognising the distortions in my thinking, was actually very helpful.

One of the many good things about D is that she is ready to step outside the frameworks, though, and respond to where I am. So when I began talking about Christmas and how overwhelming and impossible it feels, she recorded the things I was saying in a way that used CBT but not in a rigid sense, and which also made sense of how the different themes in my thinking were related. More work to do there - my next steps are to make a "To Do" list and to start recognising the things I am achieving. We spoke about childhood developmental stages and how part of me is stuck still in the pre-school era, needing recognition, attention, praise and reassurance. A further step is to identify how I can meet those needs. Perhaps space there for some journalling to recognise when those needs are being met.

Over at Lake Cocytus is an interesting discussion on the different provisions and services within a single Trust. I'd certainly endorse that from my perspective.