CBT Group
Ok so today was the first day of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy group that I enrolled in yesterday. I went to the group feeling anxious about talking to other women about my issues (or as one of my online friends calls them 'challenges'). However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had sooooo much in common with these women! There were 5 of us in total, plus the group leader. There was supposed to be a student there, but she was sick and another group member didn't show up.
I was smack dab in the middle of the age group, which is unusual for me. I usually tend to be the oldest or the youngest of any group, but there were two older and two younger women there. Today was just a meet, discuss the group and get some reading and a homework assignment to do. We spent most of the hour and a half talking about various things. I had some sort of connection with all of the other women, but the strongest connection I had was with a girl I'll call W. She and I kept talking about our nerdy/geeky likes and such, it was great to connect in a good way with someone like that. I had a strong connection to another girl, I'll call her L. That connection wasn't a 'good' connection though, L was very anxious/shy and overwhelmed, but when she expressed her issues through a drawing, I felt so very connected to her. She recently went through a lot of stuff I went through in school, but it seems to have affected her a lot more than it did me.
L ended up leaving early, she was too overwhelmed in the end. All of us felt so proud of her for getting as far as she did in the session though. I hope she comes back next week. There was only 20 minutes left for the session at this point, so we finished discussing the group and how things will work. We were given folders with introductory materials and a reading/assignment packet that we'll work through over the 7 weeks. I got caught giggling over the front page of the packet and had to explain that the book she'd taken the page from, Mind Over Mood, was suggested to me by my family doctor and I'd JUST gotten it out of the library on Monday and began reading it.
Mind Over Mood was written by Cognitive therapists and is a workbook utilizing their techniques. I had actually started to do the first exercise on Tuesday night, which is where the first page of the packet came from.
After group ended, W and I had to catch the same bus, so we continued chatting about things that we'd gotten cut off from talking about in group. That is until my friend M got on the bus and made things kind of awkward. I'm totally open with M about my therapy, and W is totally open, but M isn't a part of the therapy so kinda weird to randomly include her into the conversation.
W got off the bus well before M and I, so I moved down to where M was sitting (nearby but on the lower section of the bus, I was in the back raised section) and chatted to her about things. We both got off the bus in front of my nephew's school and my parents were in their car waiting for me since they were taking him for the night. Things were great until Mum started questioning who I was talking to as I got off the bus (as M and I talked a bit before going our separate ways).
The only downside to my day was my Mum reaffirming that because the 'boys' (both brothers, Dad and nephew are going on a road trip to visit Dad's side of the family) will be gone all weekend, she'll be calling me a lot. Then she adds "So don't get all annoyed and angry with me!"
I only get annoyed and angry when she says something insensitive or goes on and on about something that doesn't concern me in any way. I have a bad habit of changing my tone of voice to match hers though, which I do unconsciously. Every time I do that though, I get all the blame for starting with the attitude. Mum can NEVER admit when she started something, so I get the blame, and then we argue. It happens often. So often that DH knows the second he sees me that it's happened again.
So, I have homework to do for group and a weekend of annoying calls to look forward to. Joy of joys. At least I get 2 extra days of not having to walk my nephew to school! (Tomorrow he SHOULD have school, but isn't going and Monday's a holiday with no school). And now I have a migraine threatening, but I'm still in a good mood!
Hope everyone is having a good day!
I was smack dab in the middle of the age group, which is unusual for me. I usually tend to be the oldest or the youngest of any group, but there were two older and two younger women there. Today was just a meet, discuss the group and get some reading and a homework assignment to do. We spent most of the hour and a half talking about various things. I had some sort of connection with all of the other women, but the strongest connection I had was with a girl I'll call W. She and I kept talking about our nerdy/geeky likes and such, it was great to connect in a good way with someone like that. I had a strong connection to another girl, I'll call her L. That connection wasn't a 'good' connection though, L was very anxious/shy and overwhelmed, but when she expressed her issues through a drawing, I felt so very connected to her. She recently went through a lot of stuff I went through in school, but it seems to have affected her a lot more than it did me.
L ended up leaving early, she was too overwhelmed in the end. All of us felt so proud of her for getting as far as she did in the session though. I hope she comes back next week. There was only 20 minutes left for the session at this point, so we finished discussing the group and how things will work. We were given folders with introductory materials and a reading/assignment packet that we'll work through over the 7 weeks. I got caught giggling over the front page of the packet and had to explain that the book she'd taken the page from, Mind Over Mood, was suggested to me by my family doctor and I'd JUST gotten it out of the library on Monday and began reading it.
Mind Over Mood was written by Cognitive therapists and is a workbook utilizing their techniques. I had actually started to do the first exercise on Tuesday night, which is where the first page of the packet came from.
After group ended, W and I had to catch the same bus, so we continued chatting about things that we'd gotten cut off from talking about in group. That is until my friend M got on the bus and made things kind of awkward. I'm totally open with M about my therapy, and W is totally open, but M isn't a part of the therapy so kinda weird to randomly include her into the conversation.
W got off the bus well before M and I, so I moved down to where M was sitting (nearby but on the lower section of the bus, I was in the back raised section) and chatted to her about things. We both got off the bus in front of my nephew's school and my parents were in their car waiting for me since they were taking him for the night. Things were great until Mum started questioning who I was talking to as I got off the bus (as M and I talked a bit before going our separate ways).
The only downside to my day was my Mum reaffirming that because the 'boys' (both brothers, Dad and nephew are going on a road trip to visit Dad's side of the family) will be gone all weekend, she'll be calling me a lot. Then she adds "So don't get all annoyed and angry with me!"
I only get annoyed and angry when she says something insensitive or goes on and on about something that doesn't concern me in any way. I have a bad habit of changing my tone of voice to match hers though, which I do unconsciously. Every time I do that though, I get all the blame for starting with the attitude. Mum can NEVER admit when she started something, so I get the blame, and then we argue. It happens often. So often that DH knows the second he sees me that it's happened again.
So, I have homework to do for group and a weekend of annoying calls to look forward to. Joy of joys. At least I get 2 extra days of not having to walk my nephew to school! (Tomorrow he SHOULD have school, but isn't going and Monday's a holiday with no school). And now I have a migraine threatening, but I'm still in a good mood!
Hope everyone is having a good day!
Replies
It sounds like you had a really positive experience! I hope it continues to be so and that you find a lot of comfort and healing with the group. Hope your mom doesn\'t drive you too crazy over the next couple days :)
Thanks Karen, I\'m feeling really positive about the group right now and look forward to maybe making friends with the other women. I\'d love to get to know W and L better! I hope Mum doesn\'t drive me crazy either, but she probably will. :)