CBT For Anxiety Disorders Explained (Episode 172)

Uh, what inspired this is the, uh, and I think this mainly, a lot of this affects people, uh, particularly in the UK with the mental health IAPT system and stuff-

Mm

... is that, um, obviously the N- the UK has NHS, so the first port of call for a lot of people, um, is to go to the doctor, uh, if you've got anxiety or depression, things like that, and you, you're often referred to the IAPT service, and then you s- join a waiting list or whatever, and you get, usually get referred, um, to CBT counseling for anxiety, for example-

Mm

... no matter how it presents, and the reason why CBT is r- um, recommended is because CBT as a modality has got, you know, the most measurable outcomes, stuff like that, um, 'cause an advantage of CBT is you can use certain measurements, and, you know, the, and they're not great, but you know, the, they're, they're there to justify why the government's gonna pay for it and, and stuff like that.

And I love elements of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders, but because CBT is so massive-

Mm

...

I think I really wanted to discuss here that if anyone's had CBT and gone, if you're ever someone who's gone, "Oh, I tried CBT.

We, we, it were naff." Like me, I said that.

Yeah.

I went to have, uh, NHS CBT three times, didn't do a- they didn't understand my anxiety disorder.

A lot of it was just filling out GAD-7s and PHQ-9 forms, and it didn't feel like ther- it didn't feel like I was understood, but I wanted to do a very specific episode today is actually no, like, good CBT for anxiety disorders, um, you know, c- c- can be really, really helpful, and that's what Drew and I often pull a lot from, but it's a massive umbrella.

Oh, it's huge.

You know? It's like, yeah, it's like saying, "Oh, I tried food.

It didn't work for me."

[laughs]

It's like, well, what did you eat, you know?

Yeah.

Slimy carrots.

Well, there we are then.

You'd probably, you know, try a different, uh, kind of approach.

Try a different food, so we're gonna look at that.

That's good for emetophobia.

We know that.