For sometime now I have been considering starting a DBT thread as I know there are a few of us who are in the middle of a program. I thought it might be useful to have somewhere here that we can bounce skills off each other, share when something has worked and when we might have missed the chance. Some of us have taken DBT a long time ago so it might be nice to be involved as a little refresher too. Being in the program a second time has made a huge difference in how I am absorbing it.
So the way they have set our modules up is they have divided the mindfulness module into 3 and started every other module with a third of mindfulness. This is different to how it was done with me before and I think it’s a brilliant way to do it.
I just finished up Distress Tolerance and am heading into Emotion Regulation now. Looking forward to it.
I am going to start with how I used the STOP skill and managed to get myself into wisemind the other day.
This was a situation where my father was extremely disrespectful towards my mother regarding her feelings. He referred to her as being " stupid" for feeling the way she did regarding the Ukraine. Immediately I wanted to rip his fucking throat out and if I had been using I would have. If it had been 5 years ago and I was clean ( as if) I also would have ripped his throat out. I often talk about the gift that recovery has given me in this “pause " before I respond. I actually don’t think I am giving myself enough credit when I say that. I have worked very hard to change my behavior using the skills I was taught in DBT and the STOP skill is one of them.
So I stopped before I reacted, I physically moved my chair back from the table. I observed the situation and managed to get myself from emotion mind to wise mind using mindful breathing. Then I proceeded mindfully and instead of choosing to address my father I chose to address my mom and simply said " I don’t think your feelings are stupid, I feel very sad too.”
Hope you all don’t mind I snoop around a bit. I’ve been asking myself if Schema therapy was right for me and shouldn’t I have done DBT instead. The answer is no, but still I see you sharing much extremely useful stuff and I’d like to pick up some.
Wow this is huge! Im sooo impressed! Anger for myself (like what u experienced) is by far the hardest emotion for me to manage and work thru bcuz i react instantly. I’m saving this stop image on my phone. Again thank u so much for this thread. I can’t wait to learn new things and refresh my memory from years ago
When you say the answer is no to one instead of the other I believe you are correct. I do however believe every human on the planet would benefit from this type of therapy. It is just so helpful…
And, I love that you are here.
I wanted to share some worksheets from my workbook. I love this approach and Dialectical thinking, I thought that seeing it in black and white may help others.
What a fantastic idea Stella, this would be so useful, my friends at home don’t understand all this, so I can feel abit isolated with it all, and seeing how others approach it would be interesting . Plus somewhere to ask questions
That’s such helpful information for everyone! So glad you posted!!! I often want to step in and interfere when my husband deals with my daughter in a very ineffective way. I mean obviously I always try to stop and think before I react but seeing that visual of the STOP just makes a huge difference for me. I’m going to print it and put it up in my fridge. I’m also going to research more about the DBT program.
Thank you:heart:
Yes it’s great. There are a lot of DBT lead self help workbooks and a ton of online information. I believe you can also take the program online. I am doing it through our provincial mental health and addictions services.
Have been doing some reading from the handouts and it’s alot to take in again. Some info I do remember I actually came across these laminates cards from my DBT program many years ago. I have no clue what alot of these mean haha Ive held onto them in case i needed them. Maybe I can find out thru this thread and from the handouts what all this stuff says and means
I’m starting DBT group therapy in April, I did it previously about 5 years ago. I agree that every human could benefit from it! Looking forward to contributing more about using skills. Thanks for starting this thread.
I came across this and thought it would be helpful. I didnt remember it from my first run with DBT.
Always good to know what skills you can apply to what type of situation. Dana this might be helpful for your little laminated cards. @Butterflymoonwoman
I also have some DBT cards that are broken into the four modules. I was thinking it would be fun to draw a couple and I will post them. Whoever is interested can try implementing them into their week and come back with feedback if they would like to share.
That’s a great idea Stella, going to get all my worksheets and books organised this evening.
My sober recovery journey has been a lonely one, my friends don’t get it, and I am fine with that, they did not know the full story.
But I would appreciate help all your insight and interpretation with DBT as I feel if I can master technique it will help so much… I feel hampered by my mind, tired by it. A little bit of peace would go a long way
Mindfulness makes up a whole module of DBT. I found a great website that explains it very well and has links to videos and TED talks fore those of you who interested.
I am going to try #2 this week off ur worksheet here. I feel like I really struggle with this when it comes to certain problems (particularly when it comes to other people). I realize that I can only control me and my reaction to the problem. And I have to work on me and managing my emotions thru this. This will be interesting to see how I can manage my stress.
everyone …
