There's a app for that!

Just for the fun of it I decided to type in "CBT" in the Google Play store.  Whatdayaknow, there are a bunch of apps that walk you through the CBT process!  A bunch, as in dozens, geared for everything from anxiety and depression to stress and jealousy (I didn't know that jealousy was something that someone would want to use CBT for, but it makes sense if it is making that person's life difficult).  The top app that popped up is a diary app that uses CBT to help redirect thinking patterns - basically the same things that I have been doing with my fear of heights and rockclimbing.  What's interesting is over 50,000 people have downloaded it.  It makes me wonder if the people using it truly understand the concepts behind CBT or if they're simply following the directions under the app, which while it was written by a "licensed clinical psychologist with over 20 years experience" (according to the app's description), is not a substitute for substantive research or the guidance of a therapist.

I suppose my advice to you, my readers, is that CBT works (I'm proof), but that you should be careful in trying anything by yourself.  If you decide to try CBT, great - but do your research and find a therapist to guide you in at least the first steps.  It seems to me that if you go about facing your phobias the wrong way, you could further reinforce your fears rather than conquer them, by pushing yourself too far too fast and not knowing the redirection techniques used in CBT.  If I hadn't focused so hard on learning my mantra about my fear-trigger being a learned response and nothing more than a wash of chemicals in my brain and body when I'm off the ground, there's a good chance that I would have had a bad experience climbing - and I'd probably still be stuck on that rockwall, a month later.

Can't you just see it - I'd have to have all my meals brought to me while firefighters tried to figure out how to pry my fingers off the handholds without breaking bones.  (Not a good way to spend the new year, and darned hard to explain to the kids!)