Why Not To Do CBT

 Why Not To Do CBT- a harmful, neglectful gaslighting? 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is often prescribed as a one-size-fits-all solution for mental health issues. But for people dealing with complex trauma, emotional dysregulation, or deeply rooted grief, it can be not only ineffective—but dangerous.


CBT focuses on identifying and “correcting” distorted thinking. Yet for trauma survivors, intense emotions and perceived “distortions” often reflect lived experience—violence, abandonment, gaslighting, or systemic failure. Trying to reframe these thoughts without acknowledging their origin can induce lack of justice and remedy, shame, self-blame, and profound invalidation. 


The message becomes: Your thoughts are the problem—not what happened to you. This cognitive dismissal of emotional truth and even physical pain can lead people further into deep despair.


Worse, CBT’s relentless emphasis on changing thoughts can suppress vital emotions that need processing- like anger, grief, and fear—emotions that are there for a reason. These states often carry the body's wisdom and point toward boundaries, injustices, and buried pain.

 Being taught to suppress them, or worse, label them “irrational,” can fracture the psyche. This emotional disconnection is not harmless; it can trigger emotional shutdown, dissociation, or suicidal collapse.


There are cases where individuals, particularly with PTSD or a history of emotional neglect, have reported feeling more hopeless after CBT.


 Being told to “challenge” thoughts without addressing the underlying pain can make someone feel unseen and beyond help- victimise, weaken. For trauma, this approach is not just inadequate—it can be lethal.


Alternatives like ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) help people make room for difficult emotions rather than fight them. DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) teaches tools for managing overwhelming feelings without suppression. Jungian shadow work allows individuals to integrate rejected or feared aspects of themselves, promoting wholeness.

CBT practitioners have no right to abuse like this. 'lay down, take the agony and die dear'? Creating compliant victims again? (see my posts on ABA at Medium)  When emotions should be constructively  channeled!

  CBT therapists are often devoid of health or nutrition knowledge and the ones I've had the misfortune to encounter, are devoid of humanity, let alone empathy!

How Alana - a disabled activist was harmed and instructed to deny her pain

https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2021/11/11/how-cbt-harmed-me-the-interview-that-the-new-york-times-erased/

Recommended reading:


Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving – Pete Walker


The Happiness Trap – Russ Harris


Owning Your Own Shadow – Robert A. Johnson


The Body Keeps the Score – Bessel van der Kolk



Real healing comes not from fixing thoughts, but honouring truth.


liz lucy robillard 

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