What cognitive therapies have been helpful for you?

Hi, @patty78962 - I moved your post into its own discussion as I thought it merited it. Hoping that others will join and talk about what cognitive therapies have been useful and successful in their journeys toward healing with a traumatic brain injury.

Tagging @gablou17 @ponygirlnd @hunnyboo @3rdrg @waterwoman9 @healthysonia @lakelifelady @gentlewitch, who have all talked about traumatic brain injury, to join in this discussion and give offer their thoughts.

For example, have any of these therapies been helpful to you?
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

If not any of these, has another type of cognitive therapy been successful for you after your traumatic brain injury? Something else?

DBT worked wonders for me. CBT less so. Mindfulness is always a good idea to maintain presence. Thanks for asking.

(Again, this is my husband writing on my behalf, because I can no longer interface with digital devices). Although I've not tried any of the listed therapies, I am under the care of a psychotherapist who is administering Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to address childhood trauma that may be impeding my recovery. One thing I've learned about TBIs is that they can reopen a lot of life's traumas that we thought we'd buried. Also, do not ignore your eyes! My TBI left me with a neuro-ophthalmic problem, and the vision therapy I've received (eye-tracking, saccades, etc.) have seemed to help. Have a neuro-ophthalmologist perform a TBI/concussion evaluation. I also recommend two books to everyone: Besser van de Kolk's "The Body Keeps the Score," and Clark Elliot's "The Ghost in My Brain." Hope this helps!

For me it was music therapy, which I did pretty much on my own. Played my favorite rock & roll songs and sang with the band. Helped with my speech/aphasia more then anything else.

My DRs told me any mental game. When I talked to TBI centers, I was surprised at how willing they were to share information since I didn't have any insurance. And support groups. Two I think I remember were brainhq and cogmed?? Someone told me crosswords, find a work, sudoku, Facebook games like Wordblitz (doesn't matter if you are bad at them, just keep try to improve.) Placement games even if it's just reorganizing/stacking your dishes and glasses, clothing drawers, fridge, garage, etc.

@ricj Ric's idea sounds helpful. I've had incidents where I hear gibberish and really have to focus. Few weeks ago, it happened again and I texted the man's daughter he was with to make sure he was ok - but it was me (thought he was slurring/having TIA). Music does have a massive effect on the body.

@gablou17 The first year, electronic devices were a nightmare for me. I would take me a week to compose an email and it would still be messed up. At two years, I still deal have issues with grammar and electronic devices, with wrong words popping, saying the opposite and jumbling thoughts together at times. Like my brain is analyzing everything that is on an old album with millions of scratches in it, and keeps glitching and jumping around.

There wasn't much support 33 years ago with my moderate TBI (left temporal, basal frontal). I'd just finished the outline for my doctoral dissertation and went rollerblading; I woke up in ER with the room spinning (damage to left ear). Most of my recovery was the 5 mo deadline for my dissertation, which I made but my advisors were curious as to why my writing style changed from the beginning to end (I didn't tell them about the accident cuz I was getting brain-damaged comments from coworkers [emotionally hard]). The beginning was well written because following writing I forgot everything that I wrote, so it was easy to go back and clean it up. As my brain rewired my memory crept back so subsequent writing was less clear. I did graduate, so good there. Now I do crossword, Sudoku, word finding, and other puzzles, read a lot, and also hobbies and exercise (good for brain and body). Most of my recovery took about 1.5 years; complete was 8-10 years (other than word finding glitches that remain, and peoples' names)

As a retired EALP facilitator I find the above therapies to be annoying because I’ve been doing so myself, with and for others for some time with horses facilitating. Otherwise, I don’t know what category you put it in, but ‘refocus’ is helpful and accepting that overdoing either socially or physically requires four days of rest before making any life changing decisions. Doctors repeatedly tell me to keep doing what I’m doing. (Some brain and physical PT, living in an age-in-place home with attached barn and caring for (riding when possible) two horses. ) My major allergies are cooking, housework, BS, red tape, shopping and noisy social: my Anecdote is outdoors. When overwhelmed by activities there is nothing I can do but rest until my personality and energy is appropriate again. Where I live there is no TBI support and I feel my condition worsening each year so figure that late effects of 2006 sinus radiation may be still eating at my system.

@ricj - I am only 5 months into my recovery, but I have also found music to help. For me, it is slow classical / instrumental that helps me the most. It calms down the overfiring and misfiring in my brain.

@patty78962 Interesting. Since 2003 I am unable to write an e-mail requiring specific thoughts with explanations. I acquired a public quietness. Pre-accident i did much public speaking. Post accident I am unable to speak to two or more people. In a group I am quiet. I ask a brief question when I want them to explain or elaborate.

Welcome to the group- Just my case i have had a large variety of aids, the usual that doctors have you do like touch fingers to nose to finger back and forth. Many such maneuvers have a helping hand. Speed variations help with making the brain change gears to accept the new challenge. i do the follow on you tube aids and try to do them as they do them on the videos, they just got old so i went to word search books. This last one has 8000 words to find and circle, only i dont circle them so i can go back to the beginning and circle them like a new book. The book name is The complete Bible word search for adults 8000 words of god 4 books in i collection. 200 puzzles large print.am on 185 at this moment. Gave the book a break while i changed up to reading a novel of 12 book series by Terry Goodkind ,this is my 3rd time reading the complete series. Fiction but adventure. Kind of like a soap opera but so much better. switching back and forth between these 2 with my vision loss in my left eye makes it a real challenge. but i do this regular to make my brain fire its neutrons and receptors with a kind of complicated rhythms but works for me. as of this posting i had two episodes of seizure activity yesterday and throughout last week starting Monday. I know what the trigger is - It is stress and the fact that i have not done my normal routine. Listening to my music on my hearing aids and one of them is not working even though i just got them The 7th. or the pre-fit ones now. So to sum it up in short, i don't sit idle, exercises of various kinds and strength levels. Bands one day the next is leg routine that i changed up to make the muscles work for it . long walks and i ride a bike 10 miles but it is stationary. still i like to get it done in a half hour. when something starts to become too much routine i change it up to make the mind stay in tune with what i am up too. ok nuff of a book for now .Have a blessed day everyone.