Wrap Up of POLL/Study: - Does Counselling Help

[NightMonkey]

Everyone with these types of problems should be screened for sleep-disordered breathing before talk therapy is even considered. Everyone that screens positive should get a full diagnosis and good treatment.

An expanded physical should be done to find other physical problems.

Too many people are sitting with talk therapists, sometimes for years, when their major problems are physical and go undiagnosed/untreated. This is a shame and a waste of money.

The whole branch of therapy where they try to find something that happened to you as a child and pin it as the cause of all your problems is bullbleep and should be thrown out.

If you are cleared of all physical problems and still have emotional problems, then you need a practitioner who will first get you into a consistently good diet, a good regular exercise program, and consistently good sleep hygiene. (And quit sitting on your butt watching TV 7.5 hours per day which is the U.S. average.) This will clear up a tremendous number of cases.

If you are still having problems, then the practitioner should speak to you about letting go of all your guilt feelings, apologizing to all whom you have truly wronged, developing some healthy and close friendships, and doing some good charity work for people you know.

There are a few good therapists who work like this but most don't.

Repeating myself, the Freudian bullbleep that many still practice should be avoided entirely.

She is off them (antidepressants) now. It turned out to be her thyroid.

This case falls neatly into what I proposed. It is a shame that the thyroid dysfunction was not diagnosed immediately.

It seems so easy to diagnose a thyroid problem. With women much more so than men, it is well known that doctors are much too quick to diagnose an emotional problem and prescribe antidepressants or sedatives.

In a similiar fashion, many others have had sleep apnea overlooked. They were treated, sometimes for years, with antidepressants and talk therapy when all they needed was a CPAP.

So sorry for you and your daughter,

[fuzzy96]

just my two cents but,,,,,,,, as long as big pharmacuticals can give kickbacks to docs too many are gunna get the same routine. take these meds you;re depressed. we have an undereducated and overworked healthcare system that will do what the lawyers say just to cover thier ass.
then on top of it the mental health system is splitting off doing more "social work" than mental health care. the difference between mental health and social work is becoming a grayer line by the minute. there is a time and a place for everything and counseling is not a bad thing, the only way for things to change is for people to stand up and say whoa wait before you brush me off on meds clear me of everything else first. the government wont do it for us . too many in congress own a part of big pharmacuticals.

but mars;poll was about counselling it may help most likely wont hurt and should be an option

[Bons]

I have a script for anti-anxiety meds and take them as needed, which is rare these days - mostly for dental appointments because my PTSD is partly thanks to an abusive dentist (used to scream at me, hit his wife/assistant over my body while I was in the chair, etc) that I was seeing during the same years that I was being orally raped as a child. Meds can be overprescribed, but there's no way I could walk into a dentist office without a pill. Now I've found a very supportive dental hygenist and can deal with a cleaning, but still need meds when the dentist needs to do work on my teeth, or if I have to have any kind of invasive medical treatments.

And yes, treatment for the sleep apnea has helped - nothing says security like a plastic mask strapped over my mouth! Before diagnosis I always chewed my bedclothes while sleeping. My sleep doc says that PTSD is responisble for a lot of PLMs during nonrem sleep - he's certified is psychiatry as well as sleep disorders.

Talk therapy helped to get rid of most of the shame. But the key is to have a decent therapist.

[kteague]

Bons,
Your experiences touch my heart. Another example of how we never know what others have endured. One medical thing you said caught my interest. It was about PTSD being responsible for a lot of your PLMs. Do you know how your doctor determined that? Was there something about how your limb movements looked on a sleep study that helped him determine that? Just wondering. How are your limb movements these days?
Kathy

[BlackSpinner]

She is off them (antidepressants) now. It turned out to be her thyroid.

This case falls neatly into what I proposed. It is a shame that the thyroid dysfunction was not diagnosed immediately.

It seems so easy to diagnose a thyroid problem. With women much more so than men, it is well known that doctors are much too quick to diagnose an emotional problem and prescribe antidepressants or sedatives.

In a similiar fashion, many others have had sleep apnea overlooked. They were treated, sometimes for years, with antidepressants and talk therapy when all they needed was a CPAP.

So sorry for you and your daughter,

No it is not easy to diagnose a thyroid problem. The doctor suspected it (because she has it herself) but the tests didn't confirm it until almost a year later - it turns out she is one of those who test ok but when close to border line are already reacting. Now the testing is pretty well ignored and only the physical and mental symptoms are looked at . Plus it was complicated with a move and starting college. Even after starting the thyroid medication it took almost a year to get the level right because one is shooting at a moving target. Life and health is never cut and dried.

As far as OSA is concerned - it is a new concept for most doctors and many of its symptoms are shared with other diagnosis. That time before treatment creates all sorts of mental / emotional issues and bad habits. You can get therapy and clean it up right away or you can waste time and energy toughing it out and re-inventing the wheel.

[happysleeper]

I am for counselling to help with adjustment to xPAP, if needed, once a patient is appropriately diagnosed of their physical illnesses.

At the top of our list of topics, there is one titled, "Especially for the Newly Diagnosed - Dealing with Change". One of the posts has a link to an article titled,
"Coping with Change for CPAP Patients", written by one of our forum members, idamtnboy. It talks about the stages of dealing with change, including that of being diagnosed with a new life-long chronic illness. These changes can be tough for some to navigate.
Here's the link; http://myweb.cableone.net/idahomtnboy/W ... ev%201.pdf

In the the journal, Pulmonary Medicine, Zozula et al. state, "Failure to comply with treatment has been reported to be as high as 25 to 50%, with patients typically abandoning therapy during the first 2 to 4 weeks of treatment...Early identification of CPAP-related tolerance problems or barriers, psychological factors, and the predictive value of pretreatment background variables (ie, age and gender) may enhance compliance with therapy."
http://journals.lww.com/co-pulmonarymed ... way.5.aspx

Adjusting to the diagnosis of sleep disordered breathing, and the use of xpap can be a very emotionally challenging transition, especially when the person's health is already compromised and they are exhausted. I think that if the person has had their physical problems fully diagnosed, and they are feeling challenged in the transition, I would rather that they seek the help of a therapist who is knowledgeable about chronic illness, and succeed with support to use xPAP, then to give up out of frustration and lead an exhausted, risky and desperate life.

Good topic!

~Happy Sleeper

[Axxel]

Everyone's different. Some benefit from talk therapy, some don't. It doesn't replace necessary medications or medical treatment.

I have OCD. Talk therapy helps me to learn how to train my thinking.

Something very important to me is finding Dr's, therapists, and counselors that care about their patients and are honest and wont prescribe/recommend something you don't need for their own benefit.

[mars]

Hi Everybody

Well, it was good to get some interesting posts - ranging from the enlightened to the abysmally ignorant .

Looking at the poll most of us thought counselling was helpful at times, but there are a lot of variables that have to come together to achieve a useful outcome.

There were 7 respondents that thought I needed counselling, and I appreciate their guidance. I am hoping that they will take the opportunity of this thread to tell me why I should go to counselling. It is not that I disagree with them but I can hardly say to the counsellor - some anonymous folk on a cpap forum told me to come !

Personally I think that some more experiential therapy would do me a world of good -

http://www.marriagecpr.com/experiential.html

So regarding counselling the first question to ask is - what makes a particular counsellor the right person to help with your particular problem(s).

I think the best way is to get a personal recommendation from someone you know who has been helped by a counsellor. You can also find out just how the counsellor has worked with your friend, and get some idea of the type of methods that he or she uses. But remember that what worked for your friend may not work with you, and you have to work this out as best you can.

Use the first session as an exploratory session, where both you and the counsellor can see if you are suited. This may be more of a "can I be helped by this person" rather than mutual good feelings, but certainly respect must be present. And in this session you should get some initial direction in dealing with the problem, as well as some homework.

My view is that a good counsellor does not work in isolation, but engages the client in homework; which can involve group work, reading, dvd's, and possibly practical exercises etc.

What if you do not know anybody who has had successful counselling. Then close questioning of potential counsellors over the phone is the most likely option (and should be done regardless of any recommendations). The kind of questions will be general, and also particular to your circumstances.

I have looked at about 20 sites on how to chose a counsellor - some of them are worse than useless, and nearly all give out inaccurate or biased information.

A reasonably helpful site is at -

http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/soul+happ ... +your,7415

and also -

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/95866.php

Now here is a link to end all links - it has good stuff and it has garbage, but if you have an hour to spare - enjoy -

http://www.metanoia.org/choose/

But do not be put off by all this what you should and should not do. If you have a problem - then -

Being desperate and determined to get the help you need is probably the best thing you can have going for you

cheers

Mars