Oh yes, without question! At the beginning of DBT, I truly believed recovery from BPD was a pipe dream. I thought that once we finished with the program, inevitably, we would all find ourselves reverting to old behaviours and find ourselves back at the hospital. I didn't have faith in my ability to change my behaviours because I was so low and so set in my ways after leaving my mental illness untreated for so long. I had threatened to kill myself and self-harmed many times over the previous years. I couldn't imagine a future for myself — I felt like I'd already ruined my life beyond repair, like I was a shameful failure, a waste of potential. I felt like no matter what med I took, or what skills I practiced, it wouldn't change the fact that I'd be alone forever.

Towards the end of DBT, I quit my job at the dog daycare and started working for the post office. This was a challenging transition for me and I had doubts that I would make it through training, with my mental condition at the time. My therapist supported me through this and also helped me overcome my idealization of a DBT classmate, which has been a recurring obstacle for me. When I overcame this and became a permanent employee at my new job, I started to feel hopeful.

In the six months after DBT, I started trauma counselling with a new therapist and finally settled into my new job. I felt more confident in my social skills and no longer saw every stranger as a potential threat. I realized that it was well within my ability to keep a fulltime job, save money to get myself out of debt, and support myself. I no longer had to rely on anyone else. I had every resource available to me to repair my mental and physical health. For the first time, it was never a worry for me when I would end up back at the hospital — I knew the correct process to get the help I needed and had the skills to regulate my emotions and deal with daily stressors. I could never imagine finding myself in that low place again — it doesn't even feel possible. When I get low, I can solve my own problems and make myself feel better.

DBT is a challenging program at first — but the more you commit fully, pay attention, and do your homework, the sooner you will feel better and you, too, will see a light on a horizon. Stick with it and stay strong.

I took a 24-week Wise Mind group therapy class about 2 years ago. In this class, the therapist used a combination of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I’m not sure if this is typical or that the therapist made adjusts because she thought this would be more beneficial to the particular clients in the class. Yes, the two modalities overlap to a certain extent and the treatment goals of each are similar. Because of this it can be confusing the see the difference between the two. Regardless they are different types of therapy.

DBT and CBT are both evidence-based psychotherapies. DBT is a modified type of CBT. The main difference between the two is their emphasis:

• CBT focuses on identifying and changing negative thoughts and behaviors. CBT is often used to treat anxiety and depression.
• DBT focuses on mindfulness, acceptance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal relationships. DBT uses skills-based training to help people improve their well-being. DBT's main goals are to help people:
• Live in the moment
• Develop healthy ways to cope with stress
• Regulate their emotions
• Improve their relationships with others

DBT uses mindfulness philosophies to help patients accept themselves and their environment. CBT tends to be more logic-focused.

DBT is often used to treat personality disorders, especially Borderline Personality Disorder.

CBT tends to be short-term, on the order of a couple of weeks, while DBT is typically a one-year commitment at a minimum. CBT encourages changing maladaptive thinking patterns and minimizing discursive thoughts, while DBT promotes accepting negative emotions, feeling them, and letting them go.

These are the main differences between the two. As can be seen, the differences are subtle.

I still have emotional intensity, and probably always will.

DBT teaches mindfulness. Mindfulness practices such as breathing exercises and meditation, can have great results. They help us learn how to not only restrain ourselves from impulsive reactions, but also to self-soothe in moments of high turbulence.

It’s not about reduction or elimination; it’s about focus and control. We reign in our powerful emotions, instead of running away with them. We sprout roots that grow deep into the ground, creating a firm foundation on which to stand; an anchor. We learn how to observe the emotions that arise, instead of unconsciously taking them on as an “identity”.

When mindfulness becomes a habit, the intensity ceases to be as problematic as it once was.

Ah, yes. I can't feel me. How can I be 'real', 'legit', 'whole'…(choose your idiom).

I begin with this stunning piece of advice. Accept that you can NOT. Stop fighting yourself. Sit in acceptance. I am unable to integrate myself. It's the truth. You can't. You have to rely on others to tell you what you are showing, and allow them to tell you how it really should be. We don't trust ourselves, much less anyone else, so how the hell does it happen?

Acceptance. Learning to abide with the hole. If you are a BPD, you know how big the hole inside is. I tell you now. It will never go away. It is part of you. You learn to wire around it. You learn to ask questions. Questions neurotypicals don't have to ask, but we do. Am I being 'too' something? I ask it all the time now. I have finally learned to ask myself. You will, too.

It takes time. There is no finite line of 'BETTER', or 'FIXED', and never cured.

Some people who have strokes, they get to the hospital, they get the golden hour shot, they get great therapy, and two years later, other than a small left foot drop, they are all better. Think of ourselves as stroke victims, but we had to heal all by ourself. Our emotional bones didn't set right. The wiring in the brain is faulty, for lack of therapy. Our actions are gawky and odd. We don't know how to feel our bodies. Now, not everyone who recovers from a stroke reached full functional status. We won't all either.

We must learn to accept this broken mirror, and how to read, through the fragments, what is clear. We can do it.

Maybe not whole, but satisfactorily complete. It's the best we can hope for.

No it is very different. CBT focuses ONLY on thoughts, and emotions are pretty irrelevant. CBT therapists see emotions as things to “think” away; that being rational is all that’s important.

“Wise Mind” in DBT is different because it takes into account both rational thinking AND emotions. It encourages you to step back from intense emotions (lots of tools for that) before you act on them and put together your emotions and values with the facts of the situation to make a decision about the most effective way to respond.

At least that’s my understanding of it. The focus is not on what’s wrong with your thinking as in CBT. Instead it’s on using both your thinking and your emotions in balance to make the most effective decisions based on your values and what you want to accomplish.

I’ve experienced CBT. I lasted one month. The therapist was as cold as an icecube, didn’t listen to anything I said, and judged everything about me. I am learning DBT through an educational program online (not with $200 an hour therapy), and it has been really helpful. DBT talks about “thinking mistakes” but it doesn’t tell you what yours are the way CBT “therapists” do. It’s non-judgmental in the hands of someone who really knows what they are doing (MOST DBT THERAPIST can be very judgmental). LEARN DBT skills from a teacher, not a therapist. You’ll get a lot more out of it without all the bullshit that goes along with DBT “therapy.”

That's a very good question!! Part of DBT is learning to identify your feelings. Most people with BPD will realize that they were using emotional mind after the fact. But even recognizing that helps. The most important thing is to use dbt skills like distress tolerance and radical acceptance to prevent using just the emotional mind. Basically, prevent the problem before it starts. But even if you are just using emotional mind a little, if you are mindful and practice distress tolerance and radical acceptance then it should move you into a state of wise mind. Practice makes perfect!!! Dbt works really well, it can cure people from borderline (something most people won't tell you. Yes, you can be cured), But it takes a lot of practice and many years of practice. Like playing the piano. Very few people are an expert overnight. But the more your practice dbt skills the better you will feel. hope that helps!

I also do have trouble with facilitating mindfulness exercises because honestly I also find them silly and feel like a teacher, which is not a strength of mine. But I have found that if I feel silly doing it, then that energy radiates out of me to the group. I don’t work in a correctional setting but I work with forensic clients in outpatient. They are super perceptive so if you’re not fully into it, there is no chance that they will buy into it. However, while mindfulness isn’t really my thing I have found some people truly find it helpful so I feel obligated to teach the skill to clients. To deal w this dilemma I am just completely transparent. I will say something like

“hey I want to try out this mindfulness exercise today. It’s a meditation type thing and it might be uncomfortable or feel silly to you. the goal here is to offer you all a bunch of different tools to help you out. We are all different. What works for me may not work for you. That’s perfectly ok. But let’s try this out and see what you think.”

If I’m feeling especially nervous or awkward, i will probably say that too. Like “im trying out this new approach and this is the first time I’m doing this exercise w a group so I may be a little awkward. I appreciate you guys for being so patient with me.”

honestly this alleviates my own anxiety so that helps. Also the clients can tell right away if we are uncomfortable. So it’s not like I’m really telling them anything they don’t already know just by my body language and presence. They seem to respect the transparency. And I feel comfortable and confident when I’m being genuine, so that helps too. This is just my approach and it works for me. I don’t take anything too seriously or really push anything on them. If they think it’s silly, then great let’s talk about what was silly about it. Also I’m all about the joking around and everything. I’m more comfortable in that kind of environment.

however, this approach isn’t for everyone. One really great DBT clinician that I know, who worked in a correctional settings is just completely amazing at getting the guys fully engaged. She is firm and always very well respected. She’s also been doing DBT for a long time and is very comfortable w the material and really loves it. I tried to be like her when I was starting out. But it just didn’t work for me. I’m just not a real serious and structured person. I am always the most effective when I am being authentic. I think we all are.

Also, I would recommend including activities that you actually like to do and believe in. I really like the visualization exercise of creating a “safe (enough) space.” I have clients draw it out and describe it in incredible detail. I love this and can come up w a few different ways to teach the same skill. I use it in my personal life and find it really helpful. So when I’m teaching it, that energy radiates through and the clients typically respond in a more positive way. You really have to believe in what you are doing- especially with the forensic population - they can sense the bs from a mile away.

Nothing, because I wasn’t in it long enough and the therapist was very unethical. Spiritual counseling however, has been extremely helpful for me. My new spiritual counselor, Charity, told me that when others don’t see me for what I am, let them, because I’m not meant to be seen by them, and it’s okay.. And to go straight to my heart and tell myself I am protected, and nothing can touch my energy. That has been extremely revelational for me. That is the best piece of advice I have ever received, no psychotherapist ever has neared how helpful that has been. That it’s okay if I am not seen. That I just am not meant to be seen by some.. I suppose that’s radical acceptance in dbt, but this delves much more beneath the surface than radical acceptance.. That I am protected. That nothing can touch my energy.. That even sexual abuse I’ve had, it didn’t touch my soul.. Thaf my father’s mistreatment of a child didn’t touch my soul.. Quora User actually told me that when her and I first talked, as well, but in a way that much differs. She said nothing can hurt your soul..

Chain charts I already sometimes do on my own in a different way, even before I was introduced to DBT, because I am naturally very introspective. Intrapersonal intelligence is actually my highest intelligence.. (Kara S's Personality Max™ Report).. I hope it doesn’t seem like I’m bragging, but I’m just showing you why it didn’t really help me; because it already is something I naturally do

I already log my moods sometimes, and diary cards didn’t give me anything.. The list of reasons to live for.. None of those really stood me out. Mindfulness.. I have the shittiest attention span ever, and I already meditate sometimes, but in an imagery/visual way (because I cannot fathom, nor tolerate sitting still without engaging my mind)..

Checking the facts maybe.. That’s probably the best skill, considering I have comorbid schizotypal personality disorder.

DBT isn’t a cure all for BPD, especially those of us with specific subtypes and comorbidties of bpd as myself..

I am a schizotypal type, and I would say dbt is probably less likely to be effective upon us.

I think DBT is more equipped for core and externalizing borderlines (externalizing also probably need psychodynamic, though), not those of us with a comorbid cluster A (paranoid, schizotypal or schizoid). We need something that challenges our paranoia and overall fear. Schema therapy probably will be the most beneficial to us, to see where our fears origin and then working from there, also possibly EMDR, because cluster A borderlines have the most severe childhood pathology of abuse (because all cluster A’s involve paranoid thinking). I showed scholarly quotations in this answer of that:Kara Soylular's answer to Have many people with BPD been molested at a young age?

DBT isn’t going to help me when I under severe stress, think flies or insects that are in the room are machines that are disguised as flies so I think they’re flies and not machines and don’t suspect anything, and that they are spying on me or wanting to hurt me by recording me naked and getting porn out of me, or putting pills in me. It’s not going to help me not always assume that whenever something leaves my sight that goes in or on my body is laced.. Paranoia is my most severe BPD symptom, and it’s because of my comorbidity. It affects my hygiene, sleep, how often I shower, where I eat.. My paranoia is so severe, that to untrained eyes, I look schizophrenic. I’ve had a fuck ton of trauma and abuse that has resulted in my paranoia. I got sexually abused, my father physically and severely emotionally abused me (and sometimes still does), someone plotted to kill me (What do you want to prove to someone this week?), my mother put meds in my food, I got choked, I witnessed my grandmother’s death, I got taken out of my house in the middle of the night to a facility, and I got abused in one of my facilities, including having my confidentiality broke by a therapist.

Look at what psychologists documented of me in my last child facility

Isolated in the corner, not practicing hygiene at all, not eating at all until I gained enough trust..

There are several that help you tolerate and regulate intense emotions. If you want to learn them without paying the high cost of a therapist who can be very negative, aloof, and doesn’t allow you to talk about your experiences or feelings (they call it “therapy interfering bebavior”) there is an online program that costs $20 a month where you can learn the skills and if you want coaching, it costs $20 for 15 minutes.

I went through their program twice, and I found it positive, helpful, and non-judgmental. The DBT therapist I had (who didn’t tell me that was her real motive until after I’d seen her for more than a hear) was critical, judgmental, and ultimately terminated me abruptly because I didn’t “drink the Kool-Aid” on some of the DBT bullshit. The skills are great. The therapists?????not so much especially if they are completely steeped in the method because they get lots of support for some pretty crazy things.

DBT Therapy | Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

An Overview of Dialectical Behavior Therapy

My own experience with DBT was less than stellar, which I now attribute to the practitioners rather than the approach itself. I felt it simply replicated the abusive family of origin issues I'd grown up with. The therapist was angry and impatient. I did well with the tasks and homework, but never seemed quite able to internalize them. It served only to reinforce that there was something inherently wrong with me and if that wasn't being fixed, it was because I didn't do the work right or well enough.

I've done better with an approach called Schema Therapy, developed by Jeffrey Young.

It’s hard to generalize, but I’d say for the most part, yes - wise people are emotionally stable.

I would expect that most wise people (those who have embodied knowledge through life experience) have learned and applied a good level of emotional resilience.

Resilience is the ability to “not sweat the small stuff”. Thus reducing stress, anxiety, frustration and other negative feelings.

Also, I’d expect that most wise people have discarded the cultural programming to repress their emotions. “Man up!”, “Get over it!” and other such common expressions are societal messages that inform us that feelings are useless and unnecessary; and better left buried or repressed when they occur. Emotionally intelligent people have come to acknowledge, allow, and process their feelings to gain greater self-awareness and self-love.

And, most may have learned that that which emotionally triggers us about others is likely a pointer to a hidden, repressed, or denied aspect of ourselves - a rich opportunity for greater self-knowledge!

All of these - resilience, valuing our feelings, and greater attention to our triggers - contribute to emotional stability and yes, wisdom.

Namaste!

Not on its own.

It teaches you to manage pre-existing extremities of emotion, and contains lots of ideas for managing things that might not have occured to you, or that might even seem counter-intuitive.

If you stick with the course and learn to manage things, then little by little life can start to become less stressful, and then by forming new cognitive habits you can essentially re-wire parts of your brain, just by learning and doing new things.

But you have to establish that baseline of skills, behaviors, new core beliefs and such first. Once ‘surface’ things are more chilled out in general, then you can get to work on the deeper brain-training that reduces overall reactivity.

Just like picking up any kind of skill/set of skills, eventually they become semi-automatic. If you could rely on your amygdala to regulate your emotions to a socially acceptable level at all, then maybe that would have happened by now. If it hasn’t, then you need to train other parts of your brain to do the job your amygdala should be doing.

It’s unfortunate that some of us have to work to do this —and it does take work, and practice, and dedication— but really the opposite of recovery is potentially several orders of magnitude worse, in terms of life outcomes.

I can’t speak as to whether it will decrease emotional intensity entirely, in the long run, because I’m still in the re-wiring phase of recovery, so I just don’t know.

Also; everyone’s different.

Relative emotional intensity is a fairly subjective thing, so it’s hard to say whether the emotions themselves become less intense or whether we can just train ourselves to process them more quickly, but I guess the overall effect is the same.

Actual mental peace, or something like it.

Since I set out to try and fix stuff, I can definitely say that I can process emotions more quickly than I used to. But then some new emotions come along, and I have to learn something different to deal with those, and it’s an ongoing process.

Trying to shut them all down entirely landed me in all kinds of mess —because emotions do not want to be shut down. They want to be acknowledged, listened to, and treated with self-compassion, and there are different self-compassion skills for each of them.

So it’s a big job. But at least I know what it entails, now. Before there was just this blinding white light made up of things called ‘emotions’, and that used to overwhelm me on a regular basis, but the mindfulness techniques I’ve learned has kind of refracted that light into its constituent colors, and I can see what I’m dealing with now.

Joy, sadness, love, hate, envy, pride, disgust, affection, whatever —before, these were just ‘a noise’; like hungry nestlings all piping up for attention at the same time.

Now, they all wait their damned turn, and they all get taken care of equally.

More-or-less.

DBT enabled me to start doing that. But everyone’s situation/material and social environments/triggers etc. are different, so the path to recovery is different for everyone.

Not all DBT skills work the first time you try them out, or you might find some things more useful than others do, or you might think something sounds useless and then come back to it later, —this is because there’s a certain amount of ‘learning on the job’ to be done (the ‘job’ in question being ‘living’, and maybe living somewhat differently to the way you have before).

So DBT isn’t just a bunch of stuff you can reprogram yourself with and expect everything to be better. You have to practice, experiment, fail, succeed, learn, un-learn and basically be your own science experiment until you get to a point where you can look back and say:

‘Huh. Something seems to have worked!’ —and when it has, you might not care so much about why, or how, because things will be easier overall.

Whether it decreases emotional intensity overall, —as I say, I just don’t know.

But there’s nothing bad, wrong or silly about being a relatively emotionally intense person, though. So long as you can effectively manage those emotions to the extent that they don’t rule your head, you can still allow them to rule your heart, and that’s all good and human.

With regards to the info you posted in your answer…

…If no matter how hard you try you can’t manage your emotions, it’s probably because you’re trying wrong. This isn’t your fault, it’s probably just the way you’ve been set up, and you can’t know any different unless you know any different.

If drugs and alcohol seem like a solution (even if you acknowledge that they’re unhealthy solutions), they probably seem so because you’re used to shutting everything down for want of knowing how to deal with anything.

I’d guess it’s somehow related to ‘detached protector’ mode, from Schema therapy.

It is not your fault if that’s just how you know how to deal.

But there are better ways to deal, and a lot of those can be found within DBT.

I’m guessing you probably already know this but if you have an ongoing chemical dependency to street drugs or alcohol, then the symptoms of that are likely making your state of mind worse, and detracting from your overall ability to regulate in ways you might not be able to grasp if you have a level of dependency.

I know from personal experience how painful it can be to kick a substance dependency, but I also know how essental it is to give yourself a clear shot at recovery with a ‘clean’ brain; —just your brain, as it is, however it is, without anything else going on.

For you, if kicking something problematic needs to be step one, make it step one.

Because short term solutions can very easily turn into long term habits, and recovery is all about learning new habits and kicking out old ones, whether in life or in our brains.

The whole process takes time, anyhow, but it might take longer if you have habits based in dependency competing with any new habits you hope to acquire.

Also; by partaking in drugs and alcohol you’re compromising your physical health. Everyone who partakes knows this but does it anyway, but what sometimes gets missed is just how much physical health feeds back into mental health, because the minutae of our biological processes are, for the most part, beyond our immediate comprehension.

So if kicking something problematic needs to be step one, make it step one.

Might be painful in the short term, but definitely worth it over the long term.

You might not be able to imagine what recovery would even feel like right now, but I’d ask you to trust what myself and others know from experience that things can change, for the better, and DBT can help that along at a far greater pace than would be that case were you to continue struggling along on your own.

All the best, and hope this helps :)

Mentalizing and “wise mind” (or whatever your DBT practitioner calls it, they’ve all got their own term) are basically not related at all.

The “wise mind” as DBT teaches it, is part of a conceptual framework designed to control emotional dysregulation. It teaches the patient to view emotion as originating in a conceptual “lower mind” or “reptile brain” or whatever your DBT therapist calls it, which basically asks questions based in fear. It then teaches them to conceptualize a higher mind or “wise mind”, one which answers.

In effect, it teaches you to hand your internal emotions off to the rationality center of your brain. As a manual effort. To skillfully initiate control of extreme emotional dysregulation. By initiating rational responses to irrational emotions.

Mentalization, as a concept, might be used by a pw/BPD on themselves, but it has virtually nothing to do with the concept of “wise mind”.

Mentalization is the ability to perceive and understand overt human behaviors through the lens of mental states. Essentially, to look at behavior and be able to reverse-engineer the mindset that governs it.

These abilities can be, and often are, both present in the same individual, because they’re describing phenomena that apply universally. Mentalization is almost like the exact opposite of “wise mind” (I really wish DBT had more formal terminology for their techniques. I feel retarded when I’m using their given names.)

You may want to search other things I’ve written as I comment on DBT often. DBT is a skills and mindfulness based treatment. In other words your problems are seen as maladaptive although often effective approaches to problems and that skills can change your quality of life. DBT is designed to help you build a life worth living. You get to design what a life worth living is, decide what behaviours you want to decrease or increase, and decide what skills are most effective for you.

If you ever feel that the individual structured therapy is not advancing you toward your goals talk to your therapist. If they are also stuck they have a consultation team of highly trained people to rely on and will not be defensive or take it personally. They understand you probably have some very complicated issues and don’t hold it against you. They are your co-equal in therapy; you have your experiences and they have a tool case of solutions. During the week, phone coaching will be done by your individual therapist. If you use it you will have some nice success stories to tell in group. Your diary cards will also be handled by your individual therapist as therapy is structured around the card - you will learn to analyse what went wrong, what got in the way, and what might be more effective in the future.

DBT Groups are Skill Groups and are largely didactic. In a two hour group you may start with a mindfulness practice and talk about individual experiences of the practice, review homework, tell stories of what you tried this week that worked and that didn’t work and do some trouble shooting (although some of this will be bounced back to your individual therapist if they think it needs more work than would be didactically helpful to the overall group).

Then the second hour of group will focus on a new set of information and skills. You will work on skills in one of four domains. Emotional Regulation, Distress Tolerance, Mindfulness, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. If you have a good group leader, and an at-least decent co-leader, the group should be encouraging, fun, and exciting.

Best of luck. Let me know how it goes.

For me there were a few things but the biggest realisation that I came to was, that DBT doesn’t ‘fix, solve or make my problems go away’ but rather that it taught me the skills to be able to solve them on my own.

I think DBT should be taught in schools as it has skills for every day life that anyone can take advantage of. It helped me learn so much about myself and grow as a person.

I had to face the reality of my mental illness rather than just putting a blanket over it. I’ve learned acceptance, mindfulness, emotion regulation (which was the hardest module for me) and so many other things.

honestly, DBT had helped me change my life for the better. But you have to be committed and willing if you want to get anything from the course.

I feel the same! I am going through a lot of news and it scares me so much. Who am I going to be if I learn to like myself? Will I still be me? What if I liked the old me better? I guess we’ve gotta tell ourselves that it’s okay and natural to be scared because we’re making changes and change is normally scary for humans. And also that those things we are learning, the things that we have needed to learn for a while, even though they made us different, don’t define us. Let yourself be you, and change and how we manage is a normal part of growing and maturing. When you learn DBT it’s like you’re learning lots of different life skills that most people have learnt over years and years, in one go. You’re learning how to manage your anger AND also cope with change AND cope with finding out who you are and what defines you. IT’s a lot!

Hope this is helpful in anyway :)

for me the main thing dialectics have really taught me has been to hold two things at once. What this means is to understand X plus Y rather than X or Y exclusively. So an example of this would be I spilled milk and that doesn’t mean I’m a clumsy idiot. Another example would be I mad at my girlfriend and she’s not the worst person in the world. I think dialectics are some of the most important communication lessons that humans could possibly learn and they’re not taught enough. Things such as checking the facts and opposite action are some of the most helpful skills that I’ve used in order to change my life dramatically. Emotion regulation is so important as well it causes us to understand things holistically rather than a black-and-white type of situation and also really just take the edge off of your emotions. Dbt has allowed me to except my emotions rather than fight them or avoid them. mindfulness skills are things that you can do every day in order to check in with yourself and create a life worth living. I will always recommend EBT even to people who have not been formally diagnosed with anything honestly.

Yea it is, if you are willing to give it your all, and put in the time and the work to practicing and trying.

I have made astronomical improvements in only 36 weeks of DBT! I take notes at every group session, I always do my homework (sometimes twice!), I NEVER miss the weekly class, and I practice my skills even when I do not need them. I trust the process and the skills even if they don’t sound legit to me.

i also accept that it’s not a linear journey. It takes time. I also combine medication with DBT, as well as CBT with my therapist.

Some of the others in my group are not progressing like I am. But they don’t do their homework, they don’t always have an open mind, they don’t always have a good attitude, etc.

I also do mood logs and diary entries every single night. I record things such as the meds I started taking, dose changes, physical things like period or illness, how much sleep I got, etc. so I can track that.

I use the app called “thought diary” every time I’m struggling to turn my thoughts around in addition to my DBT homework!

It works if you stay committed. Treat it like a class you are taking and you want to get an A in so you don’t waste your money and ruin your GPA!

I am reposting something I put up for another question because I feel you need as much information as you can get. After all, you're digging around a really poor message board, likely desperate for some kind of answers. Unlikely to get any. Lord knows, Quora doesn't make sharing actual knowledge easy…

Four years ago, I too was desperately digging around the Web trying to figure out just what the fuck was going on with me. SEEMED like BPD, and everywhere I looked the answer appeared to be DBT.

I wish I knew then what I know now…

Because Quora HATES posting actual research, and will delete any post with a link to outside sources, I urge you to do the following:

1. Get online and look up PubMeb.
2. There, search for:

Fluidity of the Subsyndromal Phenomenology of Borderline Personality Disorder over 16 Years of Prospective Follow-up

3. Follow the link to the full text article on PMC.

In summary, acute symptoms (suicide attempts and self-harming behaviors like cutting/burning) remit quickly and tend to not return. These are the cries for help/destructive coping mechanisms that get people into hardcore treatment in the first place, and about the only thing DBT is known to stop ( and only because being an inpatient decreases your access to a means to hurt yourself).

However these are not the core issues of the disorder.

The more temperamental issues (Mood instability, chronic/major depression, chronic feelings of helplessness/hopelessness, quasi-psychotic thoughts, chronic anger, identity disturbance, anxiety, chronic loneliness/emptiness, stormy relationships) - which ARE at the core of the disorder, and that left untreated will (over time) DRIVE many to suicide - are slower to remit, and more likely to recur at some point down the line.

The problem with DBT is it essentially tells a person with demonstrably psychotic thought patterns to, “Stop THINKING like that!”

DBT's roots are in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, a methodology which only works when the patient is otherwise NOT psychotic. CBT is patently USELESS for psychotic symptomologies OR major depression:

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090625074512.htm

Psychodynamic treatments have shown better efficacy.

To help demonstrate my thesis, now that you know how to use PubMed, look up the following three articles:

Hallucinations and Other Psychotic Symptoms in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

Empirical Reality of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy in Borderline Personality

Non-response to psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: A systematic review

Yes, DBT ( dialectical behavior therapy) is used for treating mood disorders, suicidal ideation, change in behavioral patterns. DBT helps individuals who struggle to control emotions and behaviors. DBT is used for distressed tolerance, emotional regulation, mindfulness and interpersonal effectiveness (objective effectiveness, self-respect-effectiveness, relationship effectiveness).

Down below I will attach an image of a “cheat-sheet” for DBT.

I wish you the best of luck.

All materials included in this post are for informational purposes only. This post is not intended/ not to be used to replace medical, psychiatric advice.

There is a DBT Prolonged Exposure (DBT) protocol for treating PTSD. It was developed by Dr. Melanie Harned. The training for therapists is through the Linehan Institute, so it’s embraced, etc.

For info on it see What is DBT PE? — Treating PTSD

I personally was not offered this when I was in DBT. I wanted it but the therapist was hesitant; probably thought I had not reached the level of stability for processing trauma, that is required. I then switched to Schema, and now adding Somatic experiencing.

I am curious if others did the Prolonged Exposure treatment. It is not provided until the second year after one has completed all 4 modules of DBT.

With all due respect Steve, just my impression from reading your questions for a long time. Others may feel quite differently, but many of your questions appear to me to be designed to impress more than actually obtain answers. Are you really looking for answers ? Not all, but many of your questions feel like a test of others knowledge, more than an expression of genuine curiosity.

Do you get a lot of responses, and are they satisfying ? I mean are the answers you get useful, or do you feel like it leaves you feeling you know more about the topic than those answering your questions, which may very well be the case.

I am genuinely curious if you care to respond to my question, as I don’t have the background in DBT, to give you an informed answer, but I wonder if that is what you are really after ?

Bruce Kugler, Ph.D.