Dbt Therapy

[D3vo]

Are any of you a part of, or have been a part of DBT therapy?

For those who do not know, DBT is Dialectical behavior therapy. It is used to treat Borderline Personality Disorder with a set of skills and with behavior modification. It's been really helpful for me.

[crazyguy]

D3vo

I had to google it. Wikipedia has a good explanation of DBT. No I'm not part of DBT, but when I read the article I realized I am covering a lot of the points in DBT. For me it's things like yoga (that covers a lot of points in ACCEPTS & IMPROVE for example). Another thing that helps me is this forum. Positive help for others, I am not alone, and I could be far worse. Actually the "I could be far worse" thing is pretty obvious just walking down the street. Everyone on this forum has access to internet, I see people every day on the street with no home let alone a computer or internet access . While that is very disturbing to me, it puts my gripes into perspective. Anyhow, DBT sounds like a great program and I'm glad it's working for you. Maybe talking about it here will help others!

[D3vo]

Thank you for your reply and for taking the time to look it up on Wikipedia :)

I suppose most therapies use a bit of Mindfulness and Radical Acceptance.

I'm hoping to find others on this site who are in DBT or have BPD at least.

If you don't mind me asking, what is your Dx?

[crazyguy]

I'm on cymbalta for depression and anxiety and zopiclone to help me sleep. I'm doing pretty well right now realizing that nothing is perfect. I've tried several other ADs in the past but cymbalta seems the best for me so far.

I was diagnosed with depression over 5 years ago and have come to realize I have had this as far back as high school. I made it to my late 40s before I ever got help. I'm lucky my wife stuck with me because I have had some very moody times. She always told me I needed anger managent. Who knew? On ADs I'm like a different guy, no rage.

[Nibbler]

I tried DBT, I went for 6 sessions, I really tried to make a go of it but it wasnt for me. The situations they used for examples were very hard for me to relate to. I was really looking forward to the mindfulness section of the program but I just couldnt sit it out anymore. It wasnt worth the money in parking for me. I have Bi polar so I dont know if that has anything to do with it.

[peachesmary6]

it was suggested for me but the closet program to me was 30miles away and required 3 trips out there per week. you had to pay for the whole yrs sessions upfront and if you missed more then twice in that time you were kicked outa the program and lost your $$. was afraid I couldn't do it or it wouldn't help and I'd be out tons of $$ plus haveing a pre-schooler home yet, and being in MI with MI winters I was afraid of not being able to find a sitter and having to drive on very bad roads.

i may give it a shot if a program opens closer to me, I do do some of the DBT therapy stuff on-line on a self help site.

[Kazar]

I'm currently doing DBT. It's an 8 week course and I have 2 sessions left. I'm really struggling to understand it. I really feel like I'm failing somehow as the other people I'm in a group with all seem to be understanding it. I really feel like I'm slowing everything down and it makes me feel extremely anxious. I'm not very good with social situations so being in a group situation is a huge challenge for me anyway. The group is also being run by a therapist that I used to see but I stopped seeing her because I just couldn't build a relationship with her. It all feels very time pressured and I guess it makes it even harder as I feel like I'm running out of time to understand it.

[pearl740]

I'm doing DBT on an individual basis with my therapist, and working through it using a workbook from barnes and noble-- my edition is for bipolar disorder, but there is one available as general DBT book and one geared toward BPD, which is pretty close to the Bipolar one...I looked at both. My docs are trying to decide if I have bipolar 1 or BPD. Anyway, I have found it helpful but yes, some of the examples are hard to relate to. Stick with it-- the radical acceptance is hard, and so is the handling interpersonal anger-- at least for me, anyhow! It's starting to work for me, I have to do the worksheets a LOT, just going over stuff in therapy isn't quite enough for me to make all this new stuff a habit. I am trying to find a group, but I didn't like the one person who was running a group in my town, and every other one seems to have disbanded now. I could use the extra practice!

[Kalla]

I just joined a DBT group last week - you have to commit to a 6 month stint in the program - and it was recommended to me by my therapist. Honestly, I felt like I was totally out of place there. A lot of the people talked in depth about deep trauma they faced (I was told that this wouldn't be the case at all, so I was a bit surprised). I don't know if I'll be able to contribute to the group much, but we'll see how this week goes. They gave me a binder to work through every week...last week we talked about emotions...hopefully it will be helpful!

[pearl740]

Here's the link to the books-- the first four are like the one I have, there are more in the store I seem to recall seeing other topics, but anyhow: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/dialectical-behavior-therapy-skills-workbook?keyword=dialectical+behavior+therapy+skills+workbook&store=allproducts

[Liliah]

Hey there,

In short, I largely credit DBT with saving my life. When I was at the height of a Major Depressive Crisis, I attended the Hill Center for Women DBT Program at McLean Hospital, and cannot overstate the tremendously positive difference it has had in my life. In addition to having MDD, I also have BPD, GAD, and PTSD, and find the coping techniques of paramount import to keep my illnesses at bay, or at least to better understand my emotions and actions, and thereby seek to change them. I still keep the diary card and mood journal I used at the program, and recommend doing so.

You can actually order Marsha Linehan's (the inventor of DBT) skill book online, which is the one the program utilized, as well as the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, & Distress Tolerance. Collectively, it has been useful in private, though entering into DBT in a public hospital (I was both an inpatient and in the partial hospitalization program) was really essential. If you can get into a program, you should consider giving it a go. I was terrified at the thought of group therapy, but it was truly beyond valuable. The solidarity and understanding of my fellow patients—some now dear friends—was and remains remarkable, and I am now essentially a full-time DBT-pusher. (I have some posts on this, which may still be up on this site.) Also, believe it or not, Wikipedia actually has a brilliant summary, and very good links to secondary sources.

Feel free to get in touch if you want! I have been highly engaged in DBT since 2009, and would be more than happy to pay it back.

Love and light,

Liliah

Edited March 6, 2012 by Liliah

[sacredmeow]

I am just getting started with this with my therapist. My first assignment is writing a loving letter to myself to read in dark times... I am unable to do this so far. Most of what I come up with is tough-love criticisms...