Introducing a new segment for this website and podcast: Psychology Psaturday, where we will discuss dialectical behavioral therapy and dive into psychological phenomena. For our first installment, we will begin by exploring some general terms: dialectical behavioral therapy and psychological phenomena.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) was developed in 1993 by Marsha Linehan with the aim of helping people cope with extreme, overwhelming emotions. The therapeutic approach is particularly good for people with anxiety disorders and certain personality disorders. Dialectical behavior therapy keeps in mind that personality disorders are a direct result of childhood trauma. Something as seemingly benign as moving homes as a child, or parents separating is childhood trauma. It is a disruption of your stable home environment with an unknown resolution. Parental relationship breakdowns can affect your attachment style in many ways. Kids and adults both will adapt personalities to help them get the response that they need from others. Acting out is a common way to test your guardian’s love and care for you despite your actions. It is also a way for a child to get attention, which is desperately craved.
If you have a mental health disorder or a personality disorder that is a result of trauma or neglect, be kind to yourself. These adverse childhood experiences hardwire your brain. Physical changes happen inside your brain. Dialectical behavior therapy can help you cope with these changes.
The Four Foci of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
There are four primary foci of DBT: distress tolerance, Mindfulness, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
To help you mitigate and soften effects of unfavorable and upsetting circumstances, distress tolerance is learned. Distress tolerance helps you by building up your resilience.
Mindfulness, which is something I genuinely love and use on a daily basis personally, is a method of helping keep yourself in the moment. This is particularly important for keeping you present rather than keeping your focus on the pain from past experiences or the fear of what is to come.
Emotional Regulation — an art that even the most grown up of grown ups have difficulty with in their day-to-day life. The regulation of emotions is a difficult but rewarding skill to hone. Regulating your emotions begins with keying in to how you feel, feeling those emotions fully and thoughtfully without allowing those feelings to overwhelm yourself. This is particularly important for those suffering with borderline personality disorder as it is a key step in allowing ourselves to react in ways that are not reactive or destructive.
Lastly, DBT focuses on interpersonal effectiveness, treating others with respect while protecting your interpersonal relationships. Interpersonal effectiveness helps with your ability to express yourself; your needs, your beliefs, and your personal boundaries. It also helps you in developing ways to productively negotiate solutions to problems.
If you have made it this far, let’s take a moment to begin DBT on your own. Remember that no book and no website can help you as much as a DBT-trained therapist can.
Your Task! Getting a Head Start on Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Find yourself a journal just for you. You don’t have to share it with anyone; it is just for you and you, alone. Using a personal journal will help you navigate your innermost thoughts and feelings.
As you navigate your life this week, make a note anytime you experience an overwhelming emotion. Read the prompts below and really sit with these questions before writing down your thoughts.
- What caused the overwhelming emotion?
- How did you react?
- How do you feel about how you reacted?
- Did your reaction benefit yourself?
- How would you liked to have reacted?
- Identify a few behaviors here that you would like to change as we work through this together.
For journals, I personally really enjoy using bullet journals. I found a decent quality one at my local dollar store for $3.00 CAN. The dots line up across the pages and the paper is thick enough to prevent most pens from bleeding through. I also bought a cheaper one from Amazon that was of the same quality as the dollar store one. I also invested in a good quality one, which ended up being my least favorite as the paper is very thin. So thin that you can see the dots on the next page through the page before it. You can use just about anything as long as you can write in it and keep it safe.
Click here to continue on to the next post in the Psychology Psaturday series.