[christy]

Has anyone tried DBT? It seems to be mostly a set of techniques for establishing habits.

The recordkeeping involved makes me a little anxious because I have an obsessive compulsive streak that can take over.

[kat21]

Hi Christy,
I know a reasonable bit about DBT, having used and taught a lot of the techniques myself. I'm a pretty big fan of it. I think you'll find that the paradoxical nature of DBT works to make sure your record keeping doesn't become part of an obsessive-compulsive problem - for example, you might decide while using your diary card to note down urges to write down more details. The more you observe those urges, rather than going with them, the more chances you'll have to change your behaviour.

DBT is a really cool structure for treatment if you find yourself in the midst of heaps of problems with lots of different origins, making life seem not worth living. It will help you to prioritise goals, work on stuff that's tough while giving you techniques to make sure you don't need to come to therapy any more one day in the not too distant future. Not all therapies suit everyone, and I'd totally recommend you investigate all the options that are available to you. The nice thing about DBT is that it has some good results at reducing suicidal ideation and self harm. It's also really clear, transparent and collaborative. Another good option is mentalisation based treatment - it has similar results to DBT, but seems to address more areas in your life. But it takes a rather different approach. Let me know if you want to know more. :-)

And all the best. I hope you find happiness,
Kat

[sunshinegirl]

what is dbt?

[denmark]

DBT stands for Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. It basically teaches you the skills that every person should learn as the are growing up.
It's core is the mindfulness practice... nonjudgmental self awareness. And you use that to work on skills like emotion regulation (recognizing feelings and knowing what to do with them), and interpersonal effectiveness (how to interact with other people in a healthy way), distress tolerance, and so on. Everything is broken down into sections and the mindfulness is incorporated throughout.

I know I mentioned before that I was in a DBT group for a while and I found it to be so helpful. It was years ago and what I learned has stuck with me for the most part.