DBT

[frenchhorn]

my doctor said she wants to refer me to DBT, but I have to think about it for the next 2 weeks, I've looked it up but all the information is pretty confusing, just wondering if anyone has had, or is having it, what does it involve and does it work? would be grateful of any info
thanks

[sherlock holmes]

I did six months of DBT. It was initially quite confusing, there's a whole bunch of skills to learn and practice but once you get your head around it it's really helpful. You have to put the effort in though.

There's some more info here.

[RemoteControl]

Im doing DBT at the moment. It can be hard sometimes, but the skills they teach you can apply to everyday life and theyre really helpful. we are just doing interpersonal effectiveness at the moment and whenever i have a conflict to resolve i always look up the sheets on interpersonal stuff and it kind of coaches me through it (they give you amillion handouts so you can look back at it when you need to).

i think the normal length of time to do it is 6 months, and you have group sessions and individual sessions every week, so its quite intense.

i guess all you can do is give it a go and see if it works for you...

i think its proved to be quite helpful for people who self harm though.

Good luck with it all,
Margaret

[foxfly]

My therapist reccommended that I read this, and I found it helpful: http://www.priory.com/dbt.htm

I've not started DBT yet, but I'm supposed to soon. I do CBT with a therapist while I'm waiting.

I found these paragraphs from the previously mentioned article particularly helpful:

Linehan hypothesises that the disorder is a consequence of an emotionally vulnerable individual growing up within a particular set of environmental circumstances which she refers to as the 'Invalidating Environment'. An 'emotionally vulnerable' person in this sense is someone whose autonomic nervous system reacts excessively to relatively low levels of stress and takes longer than normal to return to baseline once the stress is removed. It is proposed that this is the consequence of a biological diathesis.

The term 'Invalidating Environment' refers essentially to a situation in which the personal experiences and responses of the growing child are disqualified or "invalidated" by the significant others in her life. The child's personal communications are not accepted as an accurate indication of her true feelings and it is implied that, if they were accurate, then such feelings would not be a valid response to circumstances. Furthermore, an Invalidating Environment is characterised by a tendency to place a high value on self-control and self-reliance. Possible difficulties in these areas are not acknowledged and it is implied that problem solving should be easy given proper motivation. Any failure on the part of the child to perform to the expected standard is therefore ascribed to lack of motivation or some other negative characteristic of her character.

[cantcatchme]

http://behavioraltech.org/
You might find this helpful.

I'm currently doing pre-commitment therapy and will have to decide whether or not to sign contracts in a couple of weeks. To be honest its all seeming a bit confusing to me too.

From what I understand though, it comprises of one skills training group and one individual group a week and most people have to commit to a year with the service I've been referred to. Its like a modified form of CBT where there is an emphasis on acceptance as well as change and behaviours are targeted in a hierachy with self harm and suicide attempts being addressed before anything else. I also got told that there'll be no talking about the past for the first year so that stuff like self harm is under control before underlying issues are addressed.

To anyone who's already done it: I'm a bit worried about doing DBT to be honest. It seems like its going to be quite a rigid therapy without much room for flexibility, is this the case or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

[inblack]

I did 6 months of DBT. And have continued on with individual therapy with my individual DBT therapist.

True DBT consists of group therapy at least once a week (usually an hour and a half or 2 hours), individual therapy, and phone consultations.

In DBT there are 4 main components/modules each consisting of different skills. Each module ranges from about 4-6 weeks on average.

Basically in group it is more taught like a class. In my group we always began the group with a "mindfulness" exercise. This could consist of something like observing sounds in the room, or be more involved like throwing tissue balls at one another (yes we did this lol). Then we spend about an hour going over homework from the previous group session. Sometimes everyone shares their homework, sometimes a few people don't get a chance to share or don't want to. I found the therapists (we always had two therapists lead group) would encourage everyone to share homework if there was time. You only have to share as much as you wish though and you dont need to share specifics of your situation, but you can if you choose.

When you share situations/homework, you talk about what worked for you, what didn't work for you (in regards to skills you've learned), if you could do anythign differently, why you thought it didn't work, etc. Other group memebers will share advice sometimes and tell you what worked for them with the same skill. I found that going over things with a group was helpful. I learned that there are a lot of people who have very similiar issues as I do, react the same way to situations as I do, and are going through the same things as I am. Some people gave really helpful advice too.

Then we'd have a short break and spend the next 50 minutes or so learning whatever new skill(s) we were learning that day. Sometimes we might do a practice for the skill depending on what it is or go over possible scenerios. Then we'd be given homework and then go around the group with everyone giving an observation statement such as "I noticed we had a small group tonight" or whatever it was that you wanted to say. I hated trying to think of **** to say.

In regards to skills, you learn things like how to stay focused on one thing at a time, how to not be judgemental and to recognize when you are, how to communicate effectively and get what you want, how to ride through stressful situations without making it worse, problem solving, and basically how to use these skills to improve situations in your life.

I found it helpful in that it gave me a lot of alternative behaviours to fall back on. I don't feel as trapped or helpless as I once felt and it helped a lot in over coming self harm and reducing suicide attempts (practically elimated both actually). I am better at dealing with stress and have strategies now which can help. I would definitely recommend DBT to anyone and it is not as scary as it sounds but it is intense and requires hard work and dedication. You do have support to get you through it though.

I will say though, that even after months of it I still have persistant feelings of sadness and still think about suicide a lot. I think DBT helps you to DEAL with feelings but doesn't get rid of them, or at least thats what I found. On the other hand, it may help make it so while you get depressed it doesn't get made worse by actions you then take because of being depressed (if that makes sense).

[frenchhorn]

thanks for the information everyone, I think i am going to give it a try, just very nervous about it, having had a range of different counsellors in the past and having always left after 3/4 sessions becasue i got to scared or couldnt deal with it is making me really think about this