As I wrote in a Blog Post I’ve addressed many of time in tweets, per link (https://riseandshineanxietydepression.net/2019/09/05/) entitled “Numbing” I address my Experiences with the MH community & my objective view of all that.  Here is one paragraph from that, regarding CBT & the subject matter of this Blog post, which also resides in the Final Cut of the Main Book I wrote (4th Edition Published 5/15/2019): 

“The Professionals do provide Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) services, which I think might be somewhat similar to the Detailed Cognitive/Behavior Modification Positivity Process included in this Book (?). Well actually, not that similar, since apparently the CBTs they offer are individually personalized, requiring hands on services vs. what the Lady and her Crew came up with, and what is provided in this Book. The Book’s approach is Self-Personalized, as the process appropriately Conditions a Sufferer, allowing them to drill down to their individual negative thoughts (and their mindset in sum), and sources of their negativity as Best as they can, to unravel and then amend matters Positively. What can be more personalized than that, especially since, negative thinking is the root cause of most A & D, or related, Issues?! When properly Conditioned, who knows more than the Sufferer does about their own negativity?… No One, and that certainly goes for the Professionals as well… So why personalize (?), I do not know, and I don’t know the specifics of these CBTs…”…. So I was thinking can other CBTs provided by the MH Pros, be such that they don’t focus in on the Root Cause of our Issues, Our negative thoughts which directly causes negative impacts to Brain & Body Chemistry, & hence our Feelings/Emotions creating our Issues, 100%… It appears that way in a slighted way as they seemingly do, cause if they taught the Proper ways for CBT which I LEARNED & wrote of, it makes it obvious that this can be or IS Self Personalized so …Hmm?  Still a bit of a mystery until I came across a CBT Type Process referred to as ERP:

Since then, when I heard via a google search,  the #1 CBT approach to deal with OCD, is ERP (Exposure Response Prevention), I looked into it more… From what I read, this approach deals with exposure of the individual Sufferer to uncomfortable situations/triggers that they have difficulty with & with the trained therapists involved, they educate the Sufferer of what it takes to react differently to the specific problem that is troubling them… & they repeat the process it sounds like until they get that right one trigger at a time(?)… Sounds kind of  abrupt on first thought, & not getting down to the Root Cause up front (i.e. one’s negative/unreal thoughts which creates the triggers & reactions),  but further downstream to that dealing with one’s Reactions to begin with for the individual triggers,  just does not seem right?!

I envision this approach as being kinda similar to if you were teaching someone to swim for the first time where you would have the subject jump into deep water without any Conditioning or training before hand but with the assistance of people to prevent the individual from drowning, time and time again until they get it right (per one of many triggers they likely have)… WHOA I’m thinking… Way Too Abrupt!… So by comparison per the Process I Learned from, which I consider Optimum, you Condition the Sufferer thru special Tools/Skills, & Meditation, thru about 2 weeks of training (or  in case of teaching one to swim teach them in shallower waters to begin with… gee, that’s how I learned to swim :)), & for the 3rd week you are provided additional Tools/Skills to educate a Sufferer on a different way of thinking if when dealing with any one of those triggers which may result in panic & what to do about those situations… Then per the Positivity Process, & in the 4th week per Book stds, when we get to the lowest level/the Root Cause of what causes the Sufferer to Suffer that is what I Believe/Know is  Optimum to begin a Recovery Process!… i.e  one’s individual negative thoughts which directly Impacts Brain & Body chemistry, our Feelings, our Emotions, & our negative Reactions & ways we Operate to matters one way or other ways, creates  our Issues for most MH Issues! 

Other than the negative genetic make-up at birth which determines our Positive or negative selves, our Positive vs. negative thinking ways over time gets us to live our lives being e.g. emotionally average, or gets us in the holes & pits of our Issues as a Sufferer or for one who Struggles… Yep, this is the only mechanism we have as humans which determines MH Matters... & So, Bottom line, when you learn how to control your thoughts per the 4th week training per section 5.5 in Main Book, after going thru the preceding Conditioning steps which we often Need if Suffer or Struggle, you are then prepared & ready  to get out there in public & deal with & Live Life Properly, honing your new skills & Learning to Live Life Comfortably in this imperfect world etc; & as far as that corollary, as a beginning swimmer we are now ready for the Deep waters :)… As we continue to Train we hone our skills and become REAL GOOD at matters, Stronger & More Secure in Process… or, as a swimmer, you may even become an Olympic Athlete :)… 

So, continuing, the rest of the Process provides additional Tools/Skills in dealing with the Sources of our negativity… Oh & section 6.8 (Ridding of those Ruminating/Obsessive Thoughts), is a section & additional Training to pick up the pieces that have not been dealt with completely,  to shed any lingering OCD tendencies in effect as work over time… As you mature with the Process embedded within, it becomes more and more NATURAL & Automatic… Yep that is how it works & Why It is So Incredibly Effective!

Hey for me… I again was Worse Case Sufferer with Anxiety, Depression, & OCD, for 25 yrs… I Can’t get any Stronger being human, No Question with of course with additional Spiritual Needs taken care of over time :)… As for the 3/3/20 Reviewer on Amazon.com site for Book, he HAD “Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD his whole life” as stated to me and as he wrote in his review. And he is doing Remarkably Good also when I met him for a chat/walk about 6 months ago :)… Oh, & he was Very Spiritual to begin with which Solidifies Matters…

Any way the google search I did, indicated the effectiveness of the ERP process  is like 65 – 80% effective (with or without medication I don’t know??)… Well so far 100% of those who were willing to Read & Work the Books Process, for Sufferers I dealt with, the results were “Life Changing” (link) per the 3/3/20 Reviewer & “This book literally saved my life” (link) 9/1/15 who was a High Level Anxiety & Depression Sufferer… My Son, Bipolar 2 medication for Life the Pros said… Nonsense!  All those I came across where I’ve seen Huge Positive Impacts is ID’d in Blog post written: https://riseandshineanxietydepression.net/2020/03/10  

If this does not make Complete Sense to you for your MH, then I’m afraid Nothing really will… Use your common sense & not what you might have heard from whoever, for Yourselves! So Absolutely, the Process I Learned is Optimum, but yeah, since there would be no $s to be made if therapists were to provide a Purely TRUE Self-Help Approach for Issues for people, there’d be no jobs, & Hence that is predominantly why This Approach I Learned would never be offered & Apparently is the reason, this Optimum Process has been swept under the carpet by the Professionals… That is the only thing which makes sense to me regarding this…

For the Sufferer, it is just a Matter of TRYING & doing the Read/Work, although, being human, most people won’t as that worst negative/unreal thought or way they carry around with them, “I Can’t(s)” prevents them from doing what they need to do to Take Care of themselves & move forward in their lives Beautifully… As most “I Can’ts” have no Real Validity to them…Therefore, for the most part, the MH Community will always be busy, with the exception for those Sufferers who are fortunate & willing to look into this Process themselves, & think for themselves & Realize what is being said here. Can’t imagine this not working if TRY! And always remember you gots to do the Work yourself regardless as no one can do the Work for you!!!

One more thing to consider if contemplating matters… Do you realize the Positivity Process written in the Book, covers Everything we can do to amend or align matters in all aspects of the way we Think, Operate, & React to things, Underreacting to Everything again as it amounts to.  And it sounds like ERP just focuses on ones negative reactions & compulsions one may have to all the negativity one can have at the time of Therapy… So once they have narrowed down on specific compulsions which they try to weed out per, I guess you call it, in a ERP session (one “session” per compulsion)… however long that will take which is unspecified, what happens when there are more negatives that trickle in in Life, which triggers more compulsions…? Again, the Book’s Process deals with the negative thoughts right off the bat which may crop up and we deal with them as they occur on the fly, when properly Trained, negating all negative reactions & compulsions which would otherwise crop up…….. Besides just dealing with one’s compulsions which is what ERP centers on (only??), how about other aspects of Behavior Modification which the Book’s Process covers Beautifully?… e.g. Dealing with People & Conflicts Best with Assertive Behavior… dealing with negative thinking & worries on the fly which are keeping you up at night… other… Here is the link to the Expanded Table of Contents I provided in a Blog Post which identifies the Complete Coverage of the Optimum Book’s Positivity Process … https://riseandshineanxietydepression.net/2019/09/01/ …  Contemplate & Think about all what said in this post.

Ohhh, I didn’t even bring up the Issue of Cost of doing the Book’s Process vs. Costs going thru Residential ERP to resolve OCD Issues… Well, besides getting freebie Cheerleading  which I always offer if you get the Book one way or another, the Book cost is $4.99 in a E-Book.pdf or .mobi, or .epub form, $19.99 for a Paperback max $s, &  since the Highly Recommended/Intended Relaxation Media as generated by the X-Sufferer I Learned from, which is Key during Conditioning Needs up front in working Process, is no longer available as a freebie YouTuber which was available till about the same time or short of when published the Book’s “Final Cut” (The Edition of Choice!), it’s cost for a mp4 digital or a cd is about $20; Notes:… up front in all Book sites which include my Book, addresses in Book Overview, how to obtain per a Blog Post identified in that Note…. So the Total cost would be either $25 or $40 for All Our Mental Health Needs :)… NO JOKE…… Can’t even imagine how much Residential Care goes these days(???) considering what I Paid during my approx. 20 days, 4Xs in those psych wards where I Learned Nothing!!!…  Was paying $1354/day, besides additional separate costs for pay per view psychiatrists we had to see; & that was like 12+ years ago…! Actually I contacted an OCD ERP Residential Care facility about how much it would be… Of course depending on the Severity of the Condition that would establish how long the Patient would be expected to stay at the facility… What was quoted to me was $1950 a day without insurance out of pocket expenses… OMG!!!!!! Need not say more…

Between the Positivity Tools/Skills Process wrote of  (Book’s CBT Approach), Faith Formation/Our Foundation/#1 Connection with God, this is all we can do for ourselves Naturally , Providing Permanent Results.   And of course Exercise, Eating Well is also part of the Positivity Process :). Yeah, the Total Process Sums up to Our Spiritual, Emotional, & Physical Well-Being,  in that order of Importance for Sound/Solid MH within our capabilities of course For Life :)! Nothing Better my Friends :)!

God Bless to All of ya!

Ron