group therapy

After 4 weeks and 8 sessions, my female owner finally completed her maiden course of CBT for anxiety disorders. As an observer, that is. She was observing how her research supervisor ran a course of CBT and she says that in the process, she probably had some vicarious therapy done on her.

For starters, she finally could feel the “pain” of having to attend therapy consistently, twice a week for three hours each time. My female owner said that every time she woke up on those mornings, she struggled to get out of bed. The first thought would always be, “I want to call in sick” but her commitment to her supervisor always cried out louder in the end and she would somehow be able to get her grumpy body out of bed.

Some takeaways my female owner got from the course:

Be kind to yourself.
Be willing to pay the minimal cost – e.g. tolerate some level of anxiety.
Take credit for any improvement – don’t say the environment got better.
It is not the situation you are afraid of, it is the consequences of the situation.

vicarious therapy indeed.