I started the program 7 weeks ago and it has been of great help. Looking back and now I am feeling more confident and motivated. Of course I still have ups and downs but the downs seem more manageable with the CBT tools I have been learning.
The big difference is that I am more aware of my thoughts, feelings and behaviors and its relationship. I learned that thoughts do not always reflect the reality and it is necessary to process them before arriving to some conclusion.
I am in week 3, I was just introduced to the thought record a couple days ago. While the logs helped me to see where my mood was dropping, and what was going on around me, the thought record has helped me to see what was going on in me. I still get upset, and it doesn't really help to fix it, but it's a step in the right direction.
As an example - My company was bidding a job (which is very stressful, lots of running and yelling, tempers are very short), a call from our bid runner (the girl that turns the bid in) came in, I rang the estimators office (standard procedure) he cussed a blue streak at me and his partner and demanded his partner take the line. Do I know it's stressful, emotions are high, work is scarce and he didn't really mean it - yes. Was I still upset, you betcha. Did I perceive something on my side I could have changed or done differently to change my reaction or the outcome, no, as far as I could tell I did exactly what was asked.
On the topic of growth and how it relates I have grown in my ability to identify and quantify my reactions, which allows me to recover quicker.
Learning to manage depression is a journey. The farther along you get in reaching your goals the more you learn and grow. The DC teaches members important aspects of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and the support group allows members to share what they have learned with others; so let’s do a little more sharing…
Since you first joined the site how have you grown and what have you learned? It doesn’t matter whether you have joined the site last week of last year, please share.
