Positivity
I guess my understanding of CBT is somewhat different than yours Pete... hmmm, how to explain? All this thinking is making my brain hurt
I like the challenge though. This discussion is really helping me better understand what I have learned this past year and what has been useful... and what has not.
I have to agree that the model you have been given is awful. If that were my understanding of CBT... I would run in the opposite direction, because it would seem to negate my reality. It would be like saying my experience of my life is false. My experiences are my experiences and no pdoc or counselor can tell me none of it happened. Some have tried. Damage was done. But I finally learned to trust myself, so I moved on until I found help from ppl respectful of my experience of myself and my life.
The CBT that is taught here (in my opinion) does not equate negative thoughts with false thoughts. It's about changing perspective. It's about lessening the power of the negative in our lives... quieting those thoughts... making room for the positive... and then being given the tools to recognize the positive and invite it in. That's where the empowerment comes in to challenge depression. Let me give an example of what I'm talking about.
When I was young, I lived in a city that was destroyed by a massive earthquake. My school was flattened. Classmates died. By virtue of my birth as a US citizen, I was whisked to safety in the states and did not return for some months. This is fact. I had what today would be called survivors' guilt, out of which developed the core belief that I did not deserve to be alive. This is a very simplified version of this part of my story.... nevertheless, I spent most of my life wishing I were dead. I didn't know that this experience was the source of so much guilt. It wasn't until I used the CBT tools taught here and started pealing back the layers that my perspective changed. As an adult person, I recognized the "survivor guilt" aspect (negative perception = I should be dead) based on factual experience (my friends died). The guilt that I carried was something that needed to be let go. I had no control over the earthquake, (positive perception = grief needed to replace the guilt.) Realizing that allowed me to forgive myself, grieve the losses, and move out from under the oppression those thoughts had been (unconsciously) causing.
I hope I haven't further confused the issue. It is hard to explain this stuff. I can only share what I know and that the relief I felt from processing this incident lifted a very, very heavy weight from my shoulders... from my life... which has given me the strength and incentive to challenge more and more of my core beliefs. Finding them is still tough.... but mostly I can go after them with courage and confidence... not fear and desperation.
My hope is that other members may experience this same freedom...
) that's a pretty depressing outlook. But then, that's why we come here. Trying to find some help out of the abyss. I've been here a year and am doing so much better.... I am sorry you feel like you are no better off and never will get any better using CBT. May I ask why you continue to stay here if it is not helping? 
