The Forms
I'd had a really bad week, with a few days off work so, predictably, my scores were very high. My therapist then said something really interesting that had only occurred to her after I'd left last week: A perfectionist is likely to wait for a "perfect" day before giving it a low score which makes perfect sense. Instead, we've agreed to adapt the forms in terms of how extreme the feelings have been. 0 would be very slight worry whereas 3 would be very extreme. This way it's going to be a lot easier to see how I'm making progress week on week.
Analysis
First of all, we looked at my homework from last week. I'd somehow managed to call Marie and it all went fine, of course. We drew a graph to show my anxiety levels before, during and after the call. Then my therapist explained that as I repeat the process, the habituation will bring my anxiety levels down as I get used to it.
I'd had a really bad week, with a few days off work so, predictably, my scores were very high. My therapist then said something really interesting that had only occurred to her after I'd left last week: A perfectionist is likely to wait for a "perfect" day before giving it a low score which makes perfect sense. Instead, we've agreed to adapt the forms in terms of how extreme the feelings have been. 0 would be very slight worry whereas 3 would be very extreme. This way it's going to be a lot easier to see how I'm making progress week on week.
Analysis
First of all, we looked at my homework from last week. I'd somehow managed to call Marie and it all went fine, of course. We drew a graph to show my anxiety levels before, during and after the call. Then my therapist explained that as I repeat the process, the habituation will bring my anxiety levels down as I get used to it.
We then looked at the problems I'd had during the week to write a thought record but this was harder than usual as I didn't have any active thoughts of worry. I was just aware of this sudden wave of anxiety that felt like it was punching me in the stomach. Looking at the model of perfection we'd created last week, we identified how my anxiety was causing avoidance since I was unable to work.
Homework
My homework is simple this week: Just carry on with what I'm doing! We're trying to get the habituation process in place so I'll be trying out another phone call. Oh, and I went to work yesterday and nothing bad happened, so there's that too!
Homework
My homework is simple this week: Just carry on with what I'm doing! We're trying to get the habituation process in place so I'll be trying out another phone call. Oh, and I went to work yesterday and nothing bad happened, so there's that too!
CBT Session 4
CBT Session 5