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I don't know what to do?

User Profile: wonderwoman1308
wonderwoman1308 September 21st, 2016

OK so I went to the doctors for my anxiety a while back and they recommended CBT, so a few months after that I had an initial assesment where a lady just took some details and asked me questions about myself, my anxiety, family etc. She said that I would have a nice young woman named Natalie that I would do CBT with which made me relieved because I wasn't comfortable with having a male therapist. BTW we couldn't ask who we wanted to have.

A few weeks later I had an appointment scheduled, except it wasn't with Natalie, it was with a man. I forced myself to go and told myself that it will help and that maybe I'll have Natalie and this was just a one off. For starters, the receptionist told me I had the wrong time, when it said on the letter 1pm, but she insisted it was 2pm even though I had proof on my letter, I couldn't argue back or defend myself because I was too scared, so anyway I went away and came back an hour later. I got to my appointment and he asked the same things the lady did, except I just didn't feel as comfortable as I did with the lady, it's nothing personal but I couldn't see myself going through with this therapist. I don't know if he was supposed to ask these questions but because I'm not a white person he asked if I was born here, if my mum was born here and if my dad was born here, all 3 of us were. I'm sure that it was needed but it felt a little weird. Anyway I got the session over and done with and felt worse than I did before but I was scehduled with another session in 2 weeks, I eventually had to cancel because it clashed with an important college class (and the fact I didn't really want to see him again.) I text him to let him know I had to cancel and then he rang me multiple times but because of my social anxiety I'm unable to answer or make calls and also I was in a class so I ignored the calls and turned my phone off. He then text me saying how I needed to contact him to make a new appointment, I feel so rude but I couldn't force myself to text back, I know it probably sounds stupid but I really didn't to talk to him ever again.

Today I got a letter saying that if I do not contact him by next week my CBT will be stopped because it will no longer be needed.

I'm unsure what to do, I don't even know if I need CBT anymore, I mean if I can't force myself to make an appointment do I really need one? I can't tell my parents because they will shout at me and say I'm stupid, I really want help because I have a problem, I don't have any friends at college due to my social anxiety making it hard for me to make friends but I really don't think I will be able to tell this man anything so nothing will progress, is there any online CBT available?

Thank you for reading, I appreciate it smiley

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User Profile: SimpleOwl
SimpleOwl September 22nd, 2016

@wonderwoman1308

Thank you for sharing with us, Wonderwomen! Good to have you here :)

So it seems to me that you want the CBT, you just dont want to do this therapy with a male. It also seems like you feel uncomfortable talking to this man about it. Do you think it would be helpful to see if you can speak with the person who gave you the initial assessment again? If its possible, would you be comfortable letting her know that you would like to do the CBT with a female or that you are uncomfortable with the idea of seeing a male counselor?

I hope it all works out Wonderwomen. At the very least, we are here for you.