Let's talk about…how CBT can help manage living with long term health conditions and trauma
Let's Talk About CBTShow Notes
In this episode, Helen talks with Lizzie, a beauty content creator and disability advocate, and Bex, a CBT therapist, about Lizzie's journey navigating living with long term health conditions, trauma and the transformative impact of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Lizzie shares her experiences living with Crohn's disease, POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), and hypermobility spectrum disorder, alongside the emotional challenges of managing these conditions. She discusses her initial scepticism about therapy and how CBT helped her address anxiety, PTSD, and prioritising her own well-being. Bex offers insights into the therapeutic process, addressing common misconceptions about CBT, and highlights the importance of building trust and tailoring therapy to individual needs. Together, they discuss the interaction between physical and mental health and strategies for balancing driven lifestyles with well-being. Useful links: Explore Lizzie's content on Instagram and TikTok (@slaywithsparkle). Listen to our sister podcasts: Let's Talk About CBT - Practice Matters and Let's Talk About CBT - Research Matters: https://babcp.com/Podcasts Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/babcppodcasts/ Learn more about CBT www.babcp.com Credits: Music is Autmn Coffee by Bosnow from Uppbeat Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/autumn-coffee License code: 3F32NRBYH67P5MIF This episode was edited by Steph Curnow Transcript: Helen: Hello, and welcome to Let's Talk About CBT, the podcast where we talk about cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies, what they are, what they can do, and what they can't. I'm Helen Macdonald, your host. I'm the Senior Clinical Advisor for the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies What we've got for you today is a conversation with Lizzie and Bex. Lizzie's going to talk about her experiences of having CBT and living with a number of conditions that she'll tell us more about in the episode. We're going to talk to Bex, who is a CBT therapist, and she's going to talk with us about working with Lizzie as well. Welcome to you both. Lizzie, would you like to introduce yourself? Lizzie: Hello! Thank you so much for having me. So as Helen's just said, my name is Lizzie. I am also a beauty content creator known as @slaywithsparkle on Instagram and TikTok and a little bit of YouTube and I'm also a speaker that talks about disability awareness. And I try and raise awareness about the health conditions I've got and general sort of disability awareness and activism about that. Helen: Thank you Lizzie, and welcome. Thank you for coming to talk to us today. And Bex, would you like to tell our listeners about you? Bex: Hi. Yes, I'm Bex. I'm a CBT therapist and worked with Lizzie a little time ago, when I worked in a physical health service for IAPT at the time. And I currently work more with trauma in Sheffield both in the NHS and privately. Helen Thank you, Bex. And maybe I should just say, when you said IAPT, we're now talking about NHS Talking Therapies. Bex: That's right. Yes. Thank you for providing the update. Helen: So Lizzie, can I ask you a bit about what was happening for you? What was going on that meant you ended up having CBT? Lizzie: So for me, I really had quite a negative opinion about any sort of talking therapy and had very much been brought up with the idea that if you have some sort of mental health problem, you should be able to solve it yourself. And if you just think positively and carry on, then everything should be fine. Because of my health conditions, so I will just mention just briefly so people are aware what my health conditions are just for context. So I have, Crohn's disease, which I was diagnosed with when I was 21 and then later about 9- 10 years later, I was diagnosed with hypermobile spectrum disorder and also POTS, which is a condition that affects my blood pressure and heart rate. And when
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