How This Type of Therapy Can Be Helpful for ADHD (CBT Therapy)

hello brains CBT is everywhere it's the most common form of therapy and according to research it's really helpful for those of us with ADHD but what is CBT [Music] according to the how to ADHD dictionary CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy is a structured goal-oriented type of talk therapy that aims to reduce the symptoms of psychological issues like anxiety and depression by addressing the thoughts and behavior patterns that may be contributing to them it's based on the idea that we can't directly control our feelings we can't just decide not to feel sad or chill out about something we're anxious about if I get fired from a job I'm probably gonna feel anxious and I can't directly control that I'm going to feel that way whether I want to or not but our emotions are affected by our thoughts and vice versa if I think no one's ever going to want to hire me again I'm probably going to feel a lot more anxious than if I think I've been fired before and I ended up finding a new job right away or even if I don't get another job for a while I'll be okay we don't have total control over our thoughts otherwise we probably wouldn't choose to think no one's ever going to want to hire me again it's not a fun thoughts can become patterns like anything else and be quite automatic but CVT teaches us to recognize cognitive distortions or thinking errors so we can adjust our thoughts to be more accurate which can in turn improve how we feel and how we feel can affect our next thought it's bi-directional but wait there's more emotions are also affected by our Behavior how we feel affects how we act and how we act affects how we feel if after we get fired we start updating our resume we're probably going to feel a very different emotion than if we lay on the floor ruminating and what we do next might depend on how we now feel but wait there's even more our Behavior also affects our thoughts and our thoughts affect our Behavior if I think no one's ever going to want to hire me again which while we might Express that as a feeling I feel like no one's ever going to want to hire me again is actually a thought then I'm less likely to apply to a job I really want than if I think you know what this is an opportunity for me to find something that's a better fit and me applying to a job I really want is going to create much different thoughts than me spamming my old company's Yelp page with one star reviews not that I've done it but that doesn't mean I wasn't tempted behold the CBT triangle obviously our thoughts and behavior aren't the only only things impacting how we feel we live in a world where there's a lot to be anxious and depressed about I have generalized anxiety disorder and I have for like the last decade but there are times when it's definitely worse than others and a lot of how bad it is depends on what I'm doing that's the behavioral part and what I'm telling myself that's the cognitive this is the model most people know the CBT triangle but the idea for the CBT triangle didn't appear out of nowhere an older but still quite often used model that describes these processes was created by the psychologist Albert Ellis and it's as simple as ABC a antecedent activating event or how I like to think of it yeah a thing happened like someone spills my hot chocolate on my lap and I look up and they're smiling b stands for belief this guy did it on purpose C consequences feelings behavior I'm angry and I yell at him why would you do that what you think this is funny and that maybe makes him get defensive or run away which creates a new event I'm left to clean this up by myself which leads to more beliefs like the people don't ever take accountability for their actions they just leave me to clean up the mess which makes me feel even worse slash lose even more faith in humanity maybe I'm rude to the next person I talk to which makes me feel worse and the whole thing is kind of a downward spiral obviously my one automatic negative thought did not cause my depression but it's not exactly helping things it was not a helpful thought if my goal is to feel better because now I definitely feel worse and I don't even know if what I thought was true but let's say ah thing happened someone spilled my hot chocolate on my lap and I look up and see that they're smiling same event only this time my belief is this was an accident it wouldn't make sense that someone would spill hot chocolate on me on purpose he's probably smiling because he's uncomfortable because he just spilled hot chocolate on somebody in terms of consequences I might still be upset about having hot chocolate spilled on me but also feel bad for him and say hey it's okay accidents happen and maybe that makes him sigh in relief apologize and run to get me some napkins that activating event makes me believe he must be a sweet guy because he's helping me out also he's kind of cute so I make a joke we end up laughing about the awkward situation in a romantic comedy this might even be when he asks me on a date which makes me feel pretty we have a catchphrase we use whenever things go wrong hot chocolate happens it's adorable and it's an upward spiral from there for this those of us with ADHD knowing how to spin that spiral in a more adaptive Direction can be critical in terms of our ability to function in fact there's a cognitive behavioral model specific to ADHD that illustrates this really well we have these core impairments with attention and self-regulation that make it harder for us to use strategies like calendars which might make it so we forget to check it and miss an important appointment only it's not just once that this happens we have ADHD so it happens a lot we now have this history of failure and relationship issues and we've even been fired from jobs over it which makes us have negative thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and our abilities which can make us feel bad which can make it harder for us to even open our calendar which leads to more functional impairments etc etc et cetera while strategies can be really helpful if we leave out the cognitive and emotional aspects of it and just focus on the behavioral in this case you should use a calendar we're probably not going to be as successful hence CBT there are a lot of different forms of CBT and many therapists use CBT principles sprinkled in with other forms of therapy even if CBT is their specialty CBT is to therapy as Burger chains are to fast food at a burger restaurant there's probably probably fries burgers and a drink maybe a toy CBT on the other hand one teaches us how to recognize if there are cognitive distortions in our thinking or behaviors that aren't working for us and how to adjust our thoughts to be more accurate or our behaviors to be more adaptive which can make us more functional and improve our mental health two is structured and goal oriented sessions often have a specific structure to them with a specific goal in mind three focuses more on the present than the past and four is collaborative or at least meant to support us toward our goals CBT like any form of therapy can sometimes be misused to correct or reframe someone's thinking in a way that's invalidating or even Gaslight people into doubting their own reality especially when therapy isn't done in a collaborative way with client because it focuses on cognitive distortions or thinking errors it can be easy for us to jump to the conclusion that our thoughts must be wrong especially if we're being told that by someone we trust which is something those of us already dealing with cognitive challenges are susceptible to used properly though CBT should be collaborative and based on hypothesis tests testing am I wrong about this if I am are there only parts of it that are wrong is there a kernel of Truth what is that truth and look for evidence either way curiosity rather than judgment there are forms of CBT that don't Focus so much on thinking errors as mindfulness about our thoughts like acceptance commitment therapy or act or learning to tolerate emotional distress and act toward others in ways that are more likely to help us meet our needs like dialectical behavioral therapy or DBT in the meantime if you'd like to learn more about CBT I've linked to some resources in the description below including a link to an article with a thought log so you can try out CBT principles on your own and remember the form of therapy isn't actually as critical as the therapist themselves the Therapeutic Alliance or how much you trust your therapist to help you and how well you click is the single most important predictor of therapeutic success speaking of success this channel has been successful enough that I'm managing a team of people now and I've never been a manager before so I have a lot to learn and quickly blinkist is helping me with that it's an app that offers the best selection of non-fiction books pulls out key takeaways and puts them into short text and audio explainers called blinks they're like 15 minutes long and they're really good I can read along with them while they play which helps me follow along or just listen to them while I'm playing video games I was already slightly obsessed with this app and now they made it so you can share your subscription with a friend and create spaces where you can recommend titles to each other that you loved it's called blinkist connect this is so cool I invited my creative director and shared the seven habits of highly effective people with her which is a blink of one of the most popular self-help books of all time I'm waiting to see how she likes it one of my favorite blanks so far is the first time manager that goes over everything from what to look for when you're hiring to how to effectively delegate I've used delegation in my personal life hiring people to do tasks I don't have the skills or time to do and I figured in business it would be the same but the key message in that blink and one I hadn't considered before was that successful managers use delegation to develop their employees not just pass off work they don't like or don't have time for but tasks that can help an employee develop their skills and it explains exactly how to do it in 2023 I'm committed to becoming a better man manager by learning not just how to manage a team but be amazing at it if you want to develop your own skills and quickly you can get 25 off blinkist premium and enjoy two memberships for the price of one start your seven day free trial by going to blinkist.com how to ADHD thank you to my brain Advocates and all my patreon brains for thinking my content is worth supporting and then going to support it you are the reason why we can keep doing what we do like subscribe click all the things and I will see you next video bye brains [Music] thank you foreign

Channel: How to ADHD

Views: 178,022

Keywords: add, adhd, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, jessica mccabe, how to, attention deficit disorder, mental health, neurodiversity, adult adhd, how to adhd, mental health awareness, cbt, cbt therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, Why CBT Can Be Helpful for ADHD, helpful, can be, what is cbt, therapy, wellbeing

Id: MduZa4ZBbaQ

Length: 9min 2sec (542 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 25 2023