IBS hostage no more!

Kevin’s success story

Source: CNN Fighting IBS with Behavioral Therapy

As reported on CNN, for a full year Kevin went from the emergency room to several University of Pennsylvania specialists and procedures – only to hear, “There’s nothing wrong with you,” despite having severe stomach pain.

It turns out, Kevin is but one of millions (1 in 8 Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health) who are nearly held hostage by their super sensitive stomachs. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) can be severely painful and disabling, keeping people running to, stuck in, or hovering about bathrooms with diarrhea, constipation or both.

Even though he dutifully followed medical advice, taking pills and surviving months on a highly restrictive low FODMAP diet of rice and potatoes, Kevin continued to have stomach pain and constant trips to the bathroom.

Finally, when his GI specialists suggested that he try Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for IBS, Kevin got back on his feet and remains well years later.

Peek behind the CBT therapy curtain

Are you curious about what happens in CBT for IBS? University of Pennsylvania’s GI Health Psychologist, Dr. Melissa Hunt demonstrates (with someone role-playing an IBS patient) a segment of a typical therapy session. Pay attention to how frankly they collaborate and problem-solve about the patient’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as well as plan what ...

OnAir Post: IBS hostage no more!

British Clinicians & Patients share CBT Successes 1

CBT Successes in Great Britain

I believe that this podcast, “Let’s Talk About CBT” will help anyone to understand the value of CBT for them, as well as how it works. Quoting from the ‘show notes’ of the podcast …

Dr. Lucy Maddox interviews experts in the field including people who have experienced CBT for themselves. A mix of interviews, myth-busting and CBT jargon explained, this accessible podcast is brought to you by the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies.

(More podcasts are here: https://letstalkaboutcbt.libsyn.com)

OnAir Post: CBT Successes in Great Britain

Successes with OCD

The selected interviews below - all conducted by Stuart Ralph, the creator of The OCD Stories - shine a light on how CBT-related philosophies, therapies, and techniques teach those with OCD how to live well with uncertainty, anxiety spikes and other moods associated with OCD.

Finding therapy can be difficult when you don't know what to ask about. You can find specialists in our Directory. Some University-based therapists offer services at a sliding scale as well.

OnAir Post: Successes with OCD

No ‘Sleepless in Baltimore’

“I was one of those determined to have it all,” she says. “I’d work until 2 or 3 a.m. because we needed the output. I loved it. And I’d routinely take the red-eye home from the West Coast to catch my daughter before she went to preschool.”

News from the Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

OnAir Post: No ‘Sleepless in Baltimore’

Dominik Beats Insomnia in 4 Weeks

"Insomnia plagues people in huge numbers, and once the body has asserted an erratic sleeping pattern, it can be very hard to break. Sleep restriction therapy (part of CBT) is one potential method of breaking such patterns."

OnAir Post: Dominik Beats Insomnia in 4 Weeks

“All you need is sleep”

“The treatment over the years was really just putting out fires,” says Rose. “CBT-I was so dramatically different from anything I’d done. The underlying frustration about insomnia is that in some ways there’s really nothing to talk about. With CBT-I it was like let’s not talk about it, let’s just do it. It was really liberating….”

OnAir Post: “All you need is sleep”