# CBT (Group therapie)



## hasenfuss (Dec 28, 2006)

I 've been told that I should attend CBT for my anxiety. I suffer from IBS and health anxiety. My insurance offers only Group sessions. It goes 8 weeks with up to 20 people in the group. Is it better to have that therapie with a group or indiviuel with a therapist. I am seeing a nurse phyciatrist and she told me the groups work better. I am a litte skeptical about that because it's not really personal and people have all kinds of different anxiety issues. What is better, Group or one on one ???


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## miranda (Apr 16, 2004)

This is a bit late but I'd say go for the group therapy, you'll learn the cbt techniques and how to apply them. Mostly cbt is done on your own time as "homework". If you've ever gone to a physiotherapist you'll know that you leave your session with a bunch of exercises to do. And you only benefit if you do them.Hopefully you will get some handouts and maybe get started on journalling your thoughts.In one on one therapy you can get help identifying what your thinking traps are but I'm sure you could speak up in group therapy and get some issues addressed there as well.Hope it helps you!M


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## hasenfuss (Dec 28, 2006)

The people in that group have different anxieties for example: fear of flying, fear of driving in a car, scared being in an elevator, scared of puplic speaking...etc., nobody has IBS. Last week I was so scared that I had blood in my stool ( I though, Oh my god, crohns, cancer, colitis.....) It's just bleeding hemmoroids my doctor said. I could never talk about that with 20 strangers in a room. It's too personal. If these 20 people would have IBS like me I would be o.k but unfortunatly this kind of group is not offered by my insurance. I just listen and pretty much don't talk about my poop issues. I though the whole point was to also share my anxieties but in this case I just can't .I just wonder if it bring anything to continue the class ?????


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

It really maybe that group is not for you. Its totally understandable that it would seem better in a cbt group for IBS. Also CBT taught for IBS teaches you some techniques you can use for IBS. Not just general CBT.Have you talked to the therapist and doctor about all this?Maybe they can start just an IBS group?


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## 22194 (Feb 2, 2006)

It's been many months since I visited this site, but call it fate, or whatever, I'm hoping this response will help.CBT is great therapy when used appropriately. As a psychotherapist, I personally would NOT recommend group work for this type of disorder. I agree with Eric you should make sure your medical condition is what you suspect and I am certainly not dispensing a professional opinion without knowing you. However, on an informal level, I can affirm you would be much more comfortable on a "one to one" basis with a therapist who knows how to deal with this type of therapy.Frankly, at the price of a therapist these days, you could gain profusely from the tapes/CD's offered by Mike Mahoney on this topic. Like I said, I haven't been on this board forever but I assume he is still available through "cookies4Marilyn" (who is also a real gem!)! Even though I'm a therapist, I did see a colleague about the condition and subsequently got Mike's tapes. Not sure which helped the most, but, I'm guessing the tapes since I will still use them today as needed.Best wishes. Be encouraged..I hear there's no IBS in Heaven!!


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