DBT: Has Anyone Here Gone Through This Therapy?

[Deleted member 541]

In August I am joining a DBT group. I will have to sign a contract and fully commit to a year long program. It entails one 1 1/4 hourly weekly group meeting, done in classroom fashion, plus 1 on 1 therapy meeting with a DBT specialist, plus weekly meetings with my regular therapist.(if I choose to still see her) Not sure if I will keep my therapist, as I feel 3 therapy visit every week is just way too much for anyone to handle.....

I was just wondering if anyone else has gone through DBT, and if they would be willing to share what their experience was......

 

[gdf]

That's a huge commitment time-wise. The contract idea bothers me because you just don;t know what life will be like for an entire year. Any time a therapist requires that much structure beyond a regular treatment plan I would be uncomfortable but then I would always want an option to walk away. Are they making you pay a lump some up from or it is a regular session by session billing?

I haven't done DBT but we (T and I) have talked about it as possibly being helpful for PTSD. Our discussion did not include a committment on the level you outlined.

 

[Deleted member 541]

The contract doesn't bother me too much. I know that things can and do pop up from time to time, and if they do, well, I will just have to deal with it as it comes.

From what I have been told about DBT & have read from the print outs that I was given, DBT was first developed for people with BPD, but they soon learned that it can be used as treatment for people with GAD and PTSD. I realize that the commitment is huge, and that the work & homework will be hard, but at this point I feel that I have no other choice.

I have been doing talk therapy off and on for years, and although it has helped, it's just not enough. I have had multiple traumas, so EMDR is out of the question. The DBT has CBT in it also so, it's like getting 2 for 1. I just feel like this is my last chance. The depression & suicide ideation is almost too much to handle right now, I need something.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I considered DBT but ultimately decided it wasn't right for me. I was asked to commit for a year as well. I knew this was completely out of the question as I have MAJOR trust issues. How can I be expected to commit to an entire year of therapy after meeting a therapist only once? I'm with another therapist now, one who understands my trust issues and works with me on them. It's been almost three months with this therapist and I'm still not convinced I'm going to stick with her.

 

[Sostaine]

DBT was created by Dr Marash Linehaln as the result of huge issues in her childhood with feelings of abandment which resulted i her being hospitalized in a psych ward for over 2 years (12 weeks on lockdown) in her late teens. She wrote about how she had a religous experience in a church that saved her life and how that ispired her to invent DBT to help herself and then others recently in the New York Times.

DBT is a very maualized (you follow a very strict protocol) and it is very expensive (1 years at 3 sessions a week) approach that was developed for people who have a Borderline Personality Disorder. Most of the studies were done by her own treatment team and like most therapy it reflects the belief of the therapist that it will work. The key is that DBT gives young therapists the structure they needed to work with very ill patients that no one else would treat. Many of the therapists themselves (like Marsha) had engaged in self destructive behaviors and needed the week by week structure to keep everyone from imploding. It is the belief in the therapy that is the biggest predictor of any success in most cases not the actual therapy itself..

In her research if someone stopped prior to a year they were dropped from the research so the results were skewed . This often meant that people couldn't even go on vacation as it was a symptom instead of just life. A friend of mine was a client of Marsha's who eventually killed herself so it doesn't always work but it can be life saving. Many many people don't have BPD but instead have a trauma history and that needs to be treated first unlike in DBT where that isn't even addressed in the first year.

There is no evidence yet that it works for PTSD alone and they are just now (after 20 years) starting to use it for BPD with PTSD. In fact it also doesn't help with depression or many of the other non-behavioral symptoms.. Some providers have discovered how lucrative it is though and demand the 1 year contract from clients in order to figure out their cash flow.. It does help but it isn't a one size fits all and is NOT the first choice for someone with PTSD where trust is critical.

The military and some sexual assault programs have found that a very specific form of exposure therapy and or cognitive therapy usually work in less then 12 weeks with dramatic improvements in the first 4..

 

[BloomInWinter]

I hate DBT....but it HAS helped me immensely, a year in.

It's helped me deal with everyday life...learn how to stay centered while dealing with people. Helped me confront the most self-defeating of my behaviors.

Improved my marriage, my parenting....helped me be more engaged in the T. room.

Yeah, I hate it. But...I hate to think of EVER being the doormat I was before it.

It has been worth it.

I thought I'd post this now before I change my mind and vow to quit (AGAIN)!

 

[jewel]

I did DBT and loved it. The contract is to assure continuity with the group. Remember you will be working with people like yourself who do not want strangers coming and going. It is also to assure your commitment to making it work. You can do it. Good luck!

 

[jewel]

DBT has worked for me and a friend of mine both, and we both have PTSD. In the USA it is once a week in group and once a week with your DBT T...not a huge time commitment nor a huge monetary commitment. If anyone is interested in exploring Barnes and Noble or Amazon there are many workbooks on the market that you can utilize if you cannot afford therapy.

As gor me, I don't give a hoot about Marsha Linehans personal issues. I am grateful for DBT as is my family. I think encouraging all possibilities rather than dis pirating is a much better route to go. Perhaps you had a bad experience with DBT and I am sorry if that is the case. Please don't talk someone out of helping themselves by saying Marsha had issues. We all have issues and who knows maybe one of us will be the next Marsha Linehan.

 

[Grace Hope]

Would some one please tell me what DBT is and what should you get from your sessions. I`ve not heard about it before.
I take it dosn`t mean

Daft
Bloody
Therapist
?

 

[NIKI]

I know the letters stand for Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). I started but left because the T was an awful person not because I didn't like the therapy. Wish I could have continued but not with her. Others will have alot more information about what it is all about.

 

[BloomInWinter]

DBT was worth it.

 

[LawPhotos]

I go to DBT at a center where they offer an intensive outpatient program of DBT which is 3 days a week 2 hour sessions plus weekly meeting with therapist and email/phone contact with therapists as well. This program requires the one year commitment and is expensive. They also offer a program that meets once a week for an hour plus your therapist weekly appointment (they let me just use my regular therapist who is skilled in DBT as well). This program does not require a commitment and is much, much less expensive. However, I will say, as someone mentioned before, the result is that there are CONSTANTLY new people coming in and out every week. Since it is a group therapy atmosphere with the sharing of homework that can be intensely personal it makes it difficult for the few "regulars" to share with a new bunch of "uninvested" strangers each week.

I've had a lifetime of trauma and did some trauma therapy, some CBT, phobia exposure work etc for a couple of years with my T before she suggested DBT as I am having lots of trouble dealing with my flashbacks, memories and nightmares. DBT does alot of training in coping skills which she feels I must master before we go any further in trauma therapy as I tend to have big problems dissociating etc when we try to do trauma work and big flashbacks and overall decomposure during EMDR.

I have found DBT to be extremely helpful in teaching me dozens of tools I never learned. The homework isn't lengthy but really makes you dissect thoughts, feelings and behaviors and as such can be difficult and emotional. The assignments aren't heady but are real life, such as listing your personal goals AND the steps to achieving each level of a goal, then reporting what you are doing every week to reach them. One week you may list self soothing skills that you plan to use and then having you set up a box with what you need to perform them ie-bubbles for a bubble bath or everything you need to paint or whatever you might need based on the plan you develop. Each week you apply and report on the prior week's teaching in the situations that arise in your life so you are trying out the skills immediately in your own real life, not some hypothetical.

It has been more than worth the investment for me and my ptsd.