Episode 20 – Dialectic Behavioral Therapy

For a long time, I went back and forth about needing DBT, or dialectic behavioral therapy. It was specifically developed as an adaptation from CBT to treat borderline personality disorder, but it has seen drastic improvement for other illnesses too, including depression and bipolar.

I finally saw enough destruction and difficulties in my interpersonal skills and my relationships to motivate me to pursue DBT, especially once I was taken off antidepressants. I never thought that antidepressants numbed me down or turned me into a zombie, but they must have at least made me feel less, since being taken off of them made my emotional outbursts that much worse. Now I take those as-needed.

DBT has four main “parts” or skills that it focuses on: mindfulness, interpersonal skills, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation. Not everyone’s experience with DBT will be the same, as it is more catered to each individual. What works for one person might not work for another and vice versa. The ultimate goal is to reach “my life worth living”, which obviously looks different to each individual. It is kind of a trial-and-error journey where you try one thing, and if it helps, you do it more. If it doesn’t, you do it less.

I’m no expert and I’m most certainly not a therapist, but I’ve decided to document my DBT experience on here. It can show in general what DBT can do for someone, and I can include some of the more generic lessons that are central to the experience.

Not every DBT therapist has the same methods, and some DBT therapists work together so their clients can have group sessions. My current therapist works independently, but I’m on a waitlist for a full program here in Missoula that offers individual and group therapy sessions. The group sessions in this program sound almost like classes, where they learn skills and work with the therapist in a group setting. I assume it can help offer a sense of support and accountability maybe? Since I haven’t done it yet, it’s hard for me to really talk about what it’s like, but that’s generally what group sessions of things like this are for.

I have my sessions with my therapist weekly, so there will likely be weekly updates on this. No appointment this coming week, but after that it will be regularly on Mondays. The next post will be on my first appointment I had this last Monday. I hope it can be informative, and helpful for me in my recovery as well.