Dialectical Behavioral Therapy? and one-way screens.

[Teddy.Lupin]

So I've been in hospital as an emergency admission after a bad case of self-harm, and was assessed on admission, whilst there by Pine Lodge Young People's Centre in Chester, and then on discharge by the Crisis Resolution Team.
I was referred to CAMHS and Crisis kept an eye on me in the mean time, until the appointment, and a few days after, well that was the plan until I almost got myself re-admitted to hospital,with the promise of no fast-track discharge, the day after Crisis discharged me.
Right, here's where thing get complicated. I spoke to a nurse from Pine Lodge whilst in hospital, who said that there was nothing they could offer me they felt could help, that I needed something that helped the family and I means of learning better coping techniques.
Camhs assessed me, said the family situaion was fine (despite my mum making me cry because she lies to make herself seem better) and that I'd benefit from DBT, which is only available at Pine Lodge.
Pine Lodge want to assess me again, to see if they feel anything they offer will be beneficial.
However, the assessment process will involve a team behind a one-way screen, which terrifies me, despite the fact that they introduce the team, it probably doesn't help reading Poppy Shakespeare which makes me paranoid about one-way screens, and the fact I used to have a social phobia/anxiety.
So, are one-way screens normal/common?
If I refuse to let them watch me, will they be able to assess me properly?

And also, Has anyone experienced DBT?
What time scale was it over, as I've been told it's generally a year?
How/Did you benefit?

[Tig]

I have seen one way screens where you have somebody in the room with you, who is assessing you, and then the rest of the team are behind the screen. I guess it's good because then you aren't crowded. I don't know if it would be the same for you.

I am currently doing DBT and it is usually a year long course, though sometimes I believe it can be extended if they think it's neccesary.
I have benefited from the structured support, meeting new people through a group as well as of course, learning new ways to deal with things. Even if you don't gain everything from DBT it is likely that you will learn something that will help.
DBT groups teach you skills on how to regulate your emotions, how to manage distress, it's called 'Distress tolerance' and also 'Interpersonal Effectiveness' which is helps you to communicate better with other people. Of course some of these may not apply to you at all but they are covered. Different areas do name them different things and there may be additional modules to what I have in this area.

Hope have been some help, will try and add more in morning. x

[Buttons.]

Right hun, read this and Take it in. I was admitted to Pine Lodge for emergency admission and that really helped, then followed that up DBT. They are Fantastic at it really they are, and it Turned my life around, I swear to god, I went from 50 cuts a day to a few cuts a month. It's all about finding differant coping strategies, understanding step by step the process that makes you self harm and so and so forth. Now one way mirror-wise, I find that quite odd because in all my time as an inpatient and an outpatient at pine lodge to my memory I was never assessed with a one way mirror involved, and if it's causing you this much anxiety Tell them. Can you pm me and tell me which nurse it is? If it's either of the ones who usualy do DBT I am 99.99% sure that they will either provide you a lot of reassurance or scrap the one way mirror thing altogether.

Take care, PM me if you want to,
Katy
xxx

[sherlock holmes]

I've seen a one way screen but never had it used on me before. It's supposed to reduce anxiety, not cause it, so speak to them if you're feeling uncomfortable.

I've done DBT and it was really really helpful for the time I did it, although I quit early and I regret that now.

[dragonflygurl90]

i have been in DBT for about 4 or five weeks but i knew about it years before. it has definetly helped. what we do is every monday we have group. then there is individual therapy once a week.every group we have homework. the homework could be anything from mindulness(being in the moment) emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, etc...we learn skills to help us cope with stress. the time scale is about a year but u canj go longer. thats about it... hope i helped:)

[tamobhuuta]

i did DBT for a year, i was discharged because i wasn't improving. some of the other people in the group repeated it and did it for about 2 years i think, but generally the programme is a year, involving individual and group work. it didn't benefit me at the time but now i'm on medication and my 'illness' (ugh hate admitting that) is not so strong i can use soem of the skills to help me when i am feeling bad or in crisis.

[Ranger Fairy]

I did DBT in london funded by my trust on section 3 in a locked impatient unit. I was there 10 months but didn't complete the treatment, I'd heard of patients staying for up to 2 years. (Or in otherwords until your trust withdrew funding, as it was private). Sometimes I refuse to believe it helped, but in small ways it did, as in learning to cope/distract with emotions. It didn't help with my personal experiances/symptons in 1 to 1 therapy, which ovbiously meant my reasons for self-harm were still presant. However this was because I did not wish to compley, and left early after wininng a mental review tribunal. I think I didn't work because I was forced and it will never work if you force someone into theapry, it has to be thier decision. If you really want it to work, and put the time and work in, I think it could really help and the benifits would defentality be worth the assessment and would help them in finding ways to help you.
I wish you the best
Frankiexxx

[deadstar]

I've been in DBT for almost 2 years and it has helped me so much.
I can't write right now but if you want any more info, PM me and i'll help you out as best as i can :)
xx