Dbt

[trying2movefwd]

Hi. I will be starting DBT therapy this month. I have some questions. ..How challenging is it? How long before you have noticed a change? Does trauma ever come up throughout the process? What were your experiences with DBT like? How long did your DBT therapy take to work through? Thanks

 

[Crow]

I did two rounds for a total of 12 months. It was a group. I hated almost every moment. Initially I thought the homework was stupid. But I did it and almost immediately saw improvement. Dissociation happened a bit. I was triggered by other group members. The therapist adapted the mindfulness exercises for those of us dissociating. Overall it was a monotonous thing to get through but the skills I learned have completely changed my life for the better. Good luck!

 

[NotApplicable]

Im currently doing standard dbt. Im finishing the second round of skills in August. First round i found everything stupid and was questioning everything. I only wanted to do individual therapy. Second round everything starts to make sense and i found myself using skills on my own in daily life. I no longer self harm, i havent attempted suicide in months and in general communicating with others has become easier.

For trauma, once you finish stage one of dbt and you are no longer suicidal or havent acted in behaviors in a while and you have a ptsd diagnosis, the stage 2 can be prolonged exposure therapy and you work on trauma!

Hope this helps!! Wish you luck!!

 

[StellaBlue]

stage 2 can be prolonged exposure therapy and you work on trauma!

I did two rounds of DBT. It was immensely helpful in learning to self-regulate. I would recommend you put any trauma work on hold until you're stable and have some skills on board - especially distress tolerance. When you're ready to do your trauma work, I recommend researching different modalities (prolonged exposure, somatic experiencing, EMDR) and decide how YOU want to approach it, rather than what you're therapist is (or is not) experience with.

While I got a lot of value out of the skills group, my experience with DBT therapists was not so great (granted, it was an "n" of 2, but I won't ever go back to a therapist who specializes only in DBT).