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Post by owling on Feb 3, 2014 11:04:22 GMT -5
I've been diagnosed at age 27 and I tried therapy for about 1 month. I know it's a very short while, but it's really really expensive and I have no money or time to experiment with this. I don't like sitting on a couch and talking. Talking was never therapeutic for me. Doing something like taking a stroll through a park helps more.
Still, I would like know if anyone tried any kind of therapy and how did that work out. What exactly did you do there?
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Post by Amtram on Feb 3, 2014 12:02:28 GMT -5
I've been to several different counselors, but by far the best were the child psychologist who did play therapy with me back in first and second grade, and the CBT therapist who had ADHD himself.
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Post by owling on Feb 3, 2014 12:18:39 GMT -5
Well, I'm not going to a child psychologist any time soon... What about the CBT therapy? What did you do then? I'm trying to do some therapy myself with myself, but I need a place to start...
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Post by Amtram on Feb 3, 2014 14:40:01 GMT -5
It wasn't labeled officially as CBT, but that's what it was. I think there's a little too much specification as far as some of these therapies go. Essentially, we didn't focus a lot on my childhood (except where it was really relevant) but on what was happening to me at the moment, and then trying to dissect whether it was good or bad, whether the way I handled it was positive or negative, and strategies for changing my behavior or attitudes to get a better outcome.
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Post by tigger on Feb 13, 2014 2:04:11 GMT -5
Late to the party here... apologies.
I see a therapist for grief counseling who also has ADHD himself. I find the weekly meeting quite helpful- but that's ME.
Every person is different and every person has unique needs, You might find that talk therapy doesn't help you much but peer coaching or forums or something else is the right fit.
I think that the key is to recognize and validate your unique needs.
To me, the key is to validate the reality of your experience and to give yourself permission to explore until you find the right things for you.
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Post by Amtram on Feb 13, 2014 10:20:02 GMT -5
Another thing that's important is the therapist. If you feel yourself shutting down or hiding things, or in any way uncomfortable with the therapist, it's not going to work. That's not even necessarily a problem with the therapist - he/she could be perfect for someone else but just not right for you.
Just stay away from some of the crazy ones - like that crawling one. I forget what it's called. But some idjit decided that ADHD was caused by not enough time crawling on the floor when we were infants and made up this therapy that involves making up for lost time. (And of course purports to "cure" ADHD.)
Actually, pretty much anything that says it "cures" ADHD is something to avoid. . .
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dotty
New Member
amiably eccentric
Posts: 40
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Post by dotty on Feb 13, 2014 12:21:14 GMT -5
I've done therapy for anxiety and depression with a therapist who knows anxiety first hand. I really think I got as much from another person in the group who was more outspoken (less shy) than I am. I find group therapy has been most helpful for me as someone else will ask a question or bring up a topic I hadn't given much thought to, but that shines a whole new light on things for me.
I tried peer coaching once but talking on the phone makes me horribly anxious so it didn't go well and I stopped.
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Post by tigger on Feb 13, 2014 13:18:39 GMT -5
Dotty, you aren't alone with the phone thing. It actually makes many ADHDers anxious. A more effective route to peer coaching for ADHDers is Skype, live text chat, and forums.
If you are interested, I'm thinking of adding a scheduled chat session- possibly weekly. Something that my pdoc has pointed out is that there simply aren't enough practitioners out there to meet the needs of the ADHDers out there. This would be a peer group- no doc- so not "therapy" but intended to provide a safe place where people can talk with others about what's bugging them in real-time.
As we grow, I will continue to gauge the interest in something like this. If it looks like people are interested, I'll start it up.
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dotty
New Member
amiably eccentric
Posts: 40
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Post by dotty on Feb 13, 2014 14:34:16 GMT -5
Ugh, I hate chat even more than talking on the phone. Often there are several different conversations going on at the same time and I cannot keep track of the one I'm involved in, and feel like I'm missing out on something else that's being discussed. Maybe it would be different with a moderator to guide it.
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Post by tigger on Feb 13, 2014 14:44:08 GMT -5
Absolutely the chat would be moderated. It's the only way I can think of to do it successfully. A group chat (as I see it in my head) would enable the Moderator to call on a person to speak and then to keep the cross-talk in check. Using IRC that is actually pretty easy to do.
Like any new idea, I think that there will be some trial and error involved.
*sigh*
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Post by patentpope on Feb 18, 2014 12:00:16 GMT -5
I have a great therapist that I see once a month. She's very down-to-earth, and stresses learning the tools that can help you deal with your problems. I originally started seeing a different therapist for anxiety, and while she was okay, she wasn't a great fit. Then, after hearing what I was looking for in a therapist, my psychiatrist recommended my current one, and I started seeing her, again first for anxiety. Then, as my anxiety abated, we started to focus on the ADHD and the occasional bouts of depression that seemed to follow the end of my anxiety.
I like my therapist because she's very science-based, focuses on what I can do to help myself, and isn't down on medications.
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Post by Amtram on Feb 18, 2014 12:27:05 GMT -5
Any good practitioner is going to recommend a multi-modal approach. The people for whom only therapy or only medications work fine are in the minority. A number of recent studies also seem to indicate that with ADHD, behavioral approaches work similarly to medications - you stop doing them, they stop working. It makes sense to those of us who've been living with it for a long time. Maintaining positive habits is sometimes harder than developing them in the first place.
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Post by LadyJen on Sept 10, 2014 19:35:26 GMT -5
I've only been diagnosed for about 6 mo. when I finally broke down to go see a therapist (instead of my PCP) for ongoing depression & anxiety. While in the session, she asked if I'd take an ADHD test home, fill it out, and bring it back to her next session. Come to find out, at age 36, I have ADHD. After years of primary docs just giving me anti depressants when I described how I felt, my therapist saw it right off the bat. I'm finally getting help that I NEEDED all this time...and it's working! My whole life now makes more sense. I have more answers about my personality and life choices, that looking back was just plain wrong, than I ever did before. Even though the depression is still tough, I feel so releived that I'm not broken, alone, or just an outcast. My therapist put me on meds (still titratig up), changed around my anti depressants, and has started teaching me Mindfulness and CBT. Even though this is uncharted teritory, I feel as though, with my therapist's help & correct meds, I will finally be OK. I like Mindfulness but CBT doesn't quite do it for me just yet. I do studying on my own about it and ADHD in adults in general...soaking up as much info as I can! Sorry for the long post!!!
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Post by Amtram on Sept 16, 2014 5:30:40 GMT -5
CBT is hard because it's work. And you have to pay attention to doing it, too.
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xia
New Member
Posts: 2
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Post by xia on Jul 8, 2015 21:31:35 GMT -5
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