COMMING ATTRACTIONS

Each week we teach you a DBT skill. There are two 6-month skills training cycles each year - January to June and July to December. You are free to join a “DBT Goes to the Movies” group at any time during the cycle and may continue to come for as long as you like. As an orientation to DBT the Acceptance & Change and two Core Mindfulness skills sessions are repeated as part of each cycle.

ORIENTATION TO DBT — Week 1

For changing your behaviors, emotions and thoughts that are linked to problems in living and causing you misery and distress.

• Acceptance & Change. Opposing ideas like Acceptance and Change can both be true at the same time and when considered together create a new way of viewing the situation. To improve relationships and reduce conflict move away from “either-or”, “black-or-white” ways of thinking and instead consider using “both and” ways of thinking that honor other points of view.

CORE MINDFULNESS SKILLS — Weeks 2 & 3

For not being aware of what you feel, why you get upset, what your goals are or when you have trouble staying focused.

• Wise Mind (states of Mind). Become aware of thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations that you are experiencing at this moment without judgment and without trying to change them. By becoming aware of your emotional states and urges you can develop the capacity to select a more skillful response rather than reacting impulsively.

• What (Observe, Describe, Participate) & How (Don’t judge, Stay Focused, Do What Works). Synthesize your “hot” Emotional Mind and “cool” Reasonable Mind to access your Wise Mind. “What” skills are what we do when practicing mindfulness, the “how” skills are how we get into Wise Mind.

DISTRESS TOLERANCE SKILLS — Weeks 4 to 9

For crisis moments, acting without thinking it all through, escaping or avoiding painful emotional experiences. When “running away” from a crisis is not an option.

• TIPP (Temp, Intense exercise, Progressive relax, Paced breathing). Can’t think straight, feel totally overwhelmed, are emotionally aroused or are very angry and hurt? When nothing you try seems to work you can help bring down your distress just enough so that you can think of other skills to try reduce painful emotions.

• STOP. Facing and accepting distress head-on reduces suffering. Short-term solutions that do NOT solve the core problem causing the distress and do not necessarily make you feel better. Instead, they help you bear pain skillfully by not engaging in maladaptive behaviors, including substance use, disordered eating or self-harm.

• Wise Mind ACCEPTS. When emotional pain or upset becomes so great that you are in danger of being overwhelmed, it may be more effective in the moment to distract yourself from these feelings instead of fully experiencing them. Reduce distress by reducing contact with things that cause painful emotions.

• IMPROVE the Moment. Replace immediate negative events with more positive ones by making the moment you are in more positive and easier to tolerate. Changing the way you think about yourself or the situation you are in makes it easier to survive a crisis without making it worse.

• Radical Acceptance. Accept the things you can’t change. Feeling out of control may be the most distressing part of any crisis situation. Sometimes there is nothing we can do to change or improve a bad situation. Learn how to be in control by giving up the need to be in control.

• Turning the Mind. Acceptance of reality is like coming to a fork in the road and purposely turning your mind down the “reality road”. Acceptance is a two-step process not a one-time decision. The first step is to notice you are not accepting reality. The second step is to make an inner commitment to accept. Includes Willingness, Half Smiling and Willing Hands

WALKING THE MIDDLE PATH SKILL — Week 10

For finding the balance between two opposites.

• Think & Act Dialectically. Everything and every person is connected in some way. Understanding this interconnectedness increases your understanding of your influence on others and theirs on you. Although you may at times feel alone and unconnected, there is a path to finding connection and building a sense of inclusion.

ORIENTATION TO DBT— Week 11

For changing your behaviors, emotions and thoughts that are linked to problems in living and causing you misery and distress. 

• Acceptance & Change. Opposing ideas like Acceptance and Change can both be true at the same time and when considered together create a new way of viewing the situation. To improve relationships and reduce conflict move away from “either-or”, “black-or-white” ways of thinking and instead consider using “both and” ways of thinking that honor other points of view.

CORE MINDFULNESS SKILLS — Weeks 12 & 13

For not being aware of what you feel, why you get upset, what your goals are, trouble staying focused.

• Wise Mind (states of Mind). Become aware of thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations that you are experiencing at this moment without judgment and without trying to change them. By becoming aware of your emotional states and urges you can develop the capacity to select a more skillful response rather than reacting impulsively.

• What (Observe, Describe, Participate) & How (Don’t judge, Stay Focused, Do What Works). Synthesize your “hot” Emotional Mind and “cool” Reasonable Mind to access your Wise Mind. “What” skills are what we do when practicing mindfulness, the “how” skills are how we get into Wise Mind.

EMOTION REGULATION SKILLS — Weeks 14 to 19

For fast, intense mood changes with little control, steady negative emotional state, mood-dependent behaviors.

• Check the Facts & Opposite Action. Changing beliefs and assumptions about a situation can help you change your emotional reactions to it. When emotions do not fit the facts, and knowing the facts does not change your emotion, then acting opposite to your emotions will change your emotional reactions.

• ABC (Accumulate Positives, Build Mastery, Cope Ahead). Become less sensitive and vulnerable to painful emotions. All of us have times when we are more vulnerable than at other times. You can actively increase the positives side of life by accumulating positive experiences and building mastery while reducing our vulnerabilities to Emotion Mind.

•  PLEASE. Take care of your mind by purposely taking care of your body. When we form and observe healthy habits, our bodies and our minds naturally respond positively and we feel overall healthier and happier. If you are feeling emotionally vulnerable even small differences in lifestyle choices can make a major difference in reducing vulnerability.

•  Ride the Wave (Let go of suffering). Ride the waves of emotion—not be swept away by them – to feel less emotionally vulnerable and more in command of your emotions. Experience emotions like a wave without “drowning” in them and feeling like you are a victim of your emotions.

• Understanding Emotion. Emotions may be comfortable or uncomfortable, wanted or unwanted, painful or pleasurable. They can either work for or against us in achieving your goals in life. Understanding the functions of your emotions, why you have them and what their effect is on others, will help you to change them.

•  Self Sooth (5 senses, body scan, sensory awareness). Engaging in pleasant, comforting, and calming activities focused on the five senses relieves stress and allows you to move your mind away from unwanted thoughts, feelings, and impulses. Examples of self-soothing include grounding techniques, meditation, practicing soothing touch and ‘body-scans’.

INTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS  SKILLS — Weeks 20 to 23

For difficulty in keeping relationships steady, getting what you want, keeping self-respect, loneliness.

• GIVE (be Gentle, act Interested, Validate, use an Easy Manner). Keep and maintain healthy effective relationships. You don’t like to be bullied, pushed, or made to feel guilty. Be better at encouraging others to do what we want them to do, while at the same time getting others to like doing it.

• FAST (be Fair, no Apologies, Stick to your values, be Truthful). Effectively maintain your self-respect wshen being true to yourselves and feeling good about yourself are the central goals in an interaction. Ask for what we want or help us to say no in such a way that we still respect ourself afterward.

• DEARMAN. We communicate to create and maintain relationships. Be effective in getting others to do what we ask them to do. Say no to unwanted requests and make it stick. Resolve interpersonal conflict or make changes in relationships. Get your legitimate rights respected. Get your opinion or point of view taken seriously.

• Validation (Kernel of truth). Acknowledge that others’ emotions, thoughts, and behaviors are real, make sense, have causes and are understandable to you. Find the kernel of truth in someone’s perspective of a situation that verifies their facts. It is important to validate the valid, and only the valid, of others experiences, feelings, beliefs, opinions or thoughts.

BEHAVIOR CHAIN ANALYSIS SKILL — Week 24

For understanding why.

• Behavior Chain. Knowing that your behavior can be understood as a series of links in a chain is important if you want to change. Figuring out the links helps find solutions to stopping the problem behavior. When any of the links of the chain can be broken, your problem behavior can be stopped.