May 8, 2017
This is the last live therapy podcast with Mark, the physician
who was convinced he was a failure as a father because of his
difficulties forming a close, loving relationship with his oldest
son. Although the session appeared to go well, we can’t be sure
until we see Mark’s end of session mood ratings on the Daily Mood
Log and on the Brief Mood Survey and and Evaluation of Therapy
Session. David emphasizes that therapists’ perceptions of patients
are notoriously inaccurate, but most therapists are unaware of this
because they don’t use the rigorous testing procedures at the start
and end of sessions.
To review Mark's partially completed Daily Mood Log, CLICK
HERE. Jill and David will ask him to complete the additional
negative thoughts on his own after the session.
To review mark's end of session Brief Mood Survey and Evaluation
of Therapy Session,
CLICK HERE.
After David review’s the phenomenal changes Mark reported from
the start to the end of the session, David asks if the ratings were
genuine, or, as some listeners might suspect, faked in order to try
to please the therapists. Mark bursts into tears and says, in a
choked voice, that it was a life-changing experience.
After the end of the session, David and Fabrice discuss a number
of highlights from the work with Mark:
- The testing indicated a complete or near-complete elimination
of symptoms. In 2 ½ hours, Jill and David have essentially
completed an entire course of psychotherapy. Although there may
still be some work to be done with Mark, the hard part has already
been completed.
- David emphasizes that he now views psychotherapy as a procedure
to be done at one sitting, much like surgery, with brief follow-up
visits, rather than a long, drawn out procedure meeting once pre
week for months or even many years. And although a single 2 or 2
1/2 hour session may be more costly than a traditional 50-minute
hour, it can be vastly more cost-effective Than dozens of sessions
with little or no progress. In addition, it is vastly better for
the patient who walks out feeling good today, rather than having to
endure weeks, months, or even many years of traditional talk
therapy or antidepressant drug therapy.
- David and Fabrice talk about the fact that no one is permitted
to feel happy all the time, and that Mark’s negative thoughts and
feelings WILL return, David defines a “relapse” as one minute or
more of feeling lousy. Given that definition, we will ALL relapse
forever! But it doesn’t have to be a problem for Mark if he is
prepared for this, and knows how to pop out of the relapses
quickly, rather than getting stuck in them. This is where Relapse
Prevention Training (RPT) becomes so important following the
initial dramatic recovery. RPT only takes about 30 minutes and is
easy to learn, and will perhaps be the topic for a future Feeling
Good Podcast if our listeners express an interest in it.
- David discusses the difference between an Internal Solution and
an External Solution. In this session, David and Jill have guided
Mark in the Internal Solution—this means crushing the negative
thoughts that triggered Mark’s feelings of unhappiness, anxiety,
shame, failure, and anger for years, if not decades. Now that he is
feeling so much better about himself, he may want some help with
the External Solution. This will involve learning how to develop a
more loving relationship with his son using tools like the
Relationship Journal and the Five Secrets of Effective
Communication. This will be far easier now that Mark is no longer
using up all his energy beating up on himself and feeling depressed
and inadequate.
- David wraps up by talking about the true wealth we have as
therapists. Although we won’t develop the riches of a Bill Gates
doing psychotherapy, we do have the fabulous and precious
opportunity to see people as they really are inside, and to witness
miracles like the one we saw in the session with Mark.
- David expresses the hope that listeners have benefitted by
listening. Although we are all different, most of us have had the
painful experience, like Mark, of believing we were somehow
failures, or inferior, or defective, or simply not good enough. We
are deeply indebted to Mark’ courage and generosity in giving us
the opportunity to see the solution to this ancient and almost
universal human problem!
There are many resources for listeners who want to learn more
about TEAM-CBT, including:
- David’s exciting two-day and four-day training workshops,
listed on his website, feelinggood.com.
- Tons of free resources for patients and therapists at feelinggood.com. Please sign up
using the widget in the upper right hand corner of any page on his
website and you will receive email notifications and links to every
post.
- David’s psychotherapy eBook entitled Tools, Not Schools of
Therapy.
- David’s Tuesday psychotherapy training groups at Stanford,
which are co-led Jill Levitt, PhD and Helen Yeni-Komshian, MD. The
training is free of charge to Bay Area and northern California
therapists. You will have the chance to do free personal work,
too!
- David’s famous Sunday hikes, also free to members of the
training groups.
- Paid online and in-person weekly TEAM-CBT training groups, plus
intensive TEAM-CBT treatment programs, at the Feeling Good
Institute in Mt. View California.
- In addition, many TEAM-CBT training and treatment programs are
now offered in many cities throughout the US and Canada. For more
information, visit feelinggood.com or www.feelinggoodinstitute.com.