Scared About Dbt

[recoveringfromptsd]

I guess I going to have to lay my cards out on the table as some would say with my therapist, I think the question I need answered is this DBT going to be just re-hashing that material I have already gotten or is it going to give me something I have not already gotten before. The next question it would seem that needs to be asked is repeating PHP a good substitute for this. The difference with PHP is they know me already, and I have some trust with them already.

 

[EveHarrington]

December 8.

One month away.

Get your hands on Linehan's original DBT book for treating borderline personality. (It's geared toward therapists, but has all the worksheets in it.)

Get your hands on the DBT workbook. (By different authors, but geared toward patients.)

Read like crazy, but stop if you get too overwhelmed. If just the thought of reading those books makes you anxious, push your way through and promise to read for say 10 minutes at a time.

Linehan's book has all the rules so you'll know them ahead of time. The workbook makes the material easier to digest.

You'll be prepared for December 8 and will have minimized the number of potential surprises.

You've got this! :)

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

It may take some time to get these things, can anybody give me a clue or sample of what some of the rules look like. So I can get a feel for this.

You know what scares me the most, is that I thought I have conquered the hardest part when I went to SP TDU, I could not have been more wrong, it turns out that part was was like taking the first step over the starting line on a very long track. Its so overwhelming to think this goes on forever. Sometimes I feel like I will never get over any of this. Sometimes I am not sure I have it in me to overcome all this stuff.

I feel like I am being hurt all over again just by what I am having to do to deal with this stuff.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

@EveHarrington I emailed my T to address the issues with the DBT program that are pushing on me to see what can be gained that I can't get with the other option which is repeat PHP.

 

[EveHarrington]

What are your issues?

 

[Sideways]

as I can do it in a month.

This. The frustration is infuriating. It feels like everything has to be put on hold, which is like going backwards.

Quicker, for dbt, doesn't mean better. The concepts are ones that take work to understand, but it also just takes time (frustrating, pull your hair out, please don't make me stop my progress time) for the confepts to actually become a natural part of the way you cope day to day, and the homework and feedback you get during a good dbt course is a really big part of the process.

Can you talk to others who have done the course, or to the facilitator about the process and expectations and outcomes? With that kind of pricetag, it's an investment in your health and future, so reassuring yourself it's a worthwhile investment is pretty reasonable.

But the time factor? For me, it was just a case of bite the bullet, not much choice. If you weigh up the amount of time you've been living with SI, and how that's become your brain's habitual go-to solution when you're struggling, one month just isn't going to turn that around and teach you new skills AND get you to the point where you're incorporating them fairly naturally and successfully. Even now, my brain goes back to the "suicide solution" when things are really bad. But I can manage it in a way that it's like a rash that comes and goes, and my ability to be aware of it, and coexist with it with life still being worthwhile is so far removed from where I used to be.

The time out of therapy? Man do I understand your frustration. It's so much more important that it's a good course run by a competent facilitator though. Dealing with something as intense as SI, for so many years, there is no quick fix, and 6 months is a realistic timeframe.

Maybe it's just not for you. Maybe the other programs are more up your alley. Maybe. But when you consider how many years you've been fighting this demon, and someone is saying, potentially, I can show you how to get rid of this demon, for good, if you'll give me 6 months of your time...

For me, like I said, I've made up the time out that I had to stop therapy to do dbt many times over. I'm not in and out of hospital anymore - hospital is the rare exception. Rewind 5 years, I basically spent 30-50% of my life, year after year, in hospital. You bet that's worth 6 months of feeling like you're standing still!

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

@Ragdoll Circus I agree with much of what you have said, what I don't want is a situation where my thinking is not challenged. That would be the one thing that would make this DBT a must. If its just representing the same material I got in PHP in a dry fashion then I don't think I would get much out of it.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

What are your issues?

Beside the difference in cost, what will it give me that php can't, also there is trust, I am familiar with PHP staff and trust them, so much that it convinced me to let my walls down and hold back nothing going into therapy (blind trust when I can't trust at all is hard), which after I got triggered there was nothing repressing the memories. Hence immediate crisis.

I comes down to this, I need them to provide me more info on what I experience. I trust my therapist will sort this out with me.

 

[EveHarrington]

I think if you only stay where you're comfortable then you will be doing yourself a disservice. Many of us have to go through various treatments in order to heal. If you only stay with PHP & your current therapist, your healing will IMHO be limited.

 

[Friday]

.

If its going to be just presenting the same material and does not go further and provide more, it would seem a waste.

I think you hit the nail on the head, right there. If that's all it was? It would be a waste. Which makes it exceptionally unlikely that that's the case, or that you'd be being asked to take the course.

Consider it like driving. Not a lot to it, right? On/off. Acceleration. Break. Steering. WTF should I have to take a specialized class in that???

Because there's more to it.

After taking a basic driving course... WTF should I have to take more courses??? I can effing drive already! Nope. I know the basics. The advanced courses teach me where on other vehicle to strike with my vehicle to push them out of the way, ditto barricades, and how to do J turns, and the optimal places to shift gears, and sooooo much more than I learned in my basic driving course. Offensive driving & stunt driving & off-road driving are very different than defensive driving. Exact. Same. Principles. Gone into with more depth, applied differently, and requiring a lot more time to master.

Taking specialized courses? Yes. There will be some repeat. There will be many of the same principles. That doesn't make them pointless. It makes them advanced & specialized.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

@Friday I understand with what your saying and I agree with you. I have essentially already decided to go with the DBT they want me to do, but I am still wanting more about it. I have to manage the stress from all this so I need to figure out how to manage, and I am already not functioning any better than before I went into the hospital so I am not sure I can even handle it right now, what did change from being in the hospital is I am able to be safe, as I am now able to use my grounding tools I learned from SP. Plus SP dealt with my Manic Depression, so my mind is clear, which has its downside, FB impact's me more. I have a lot on my plate, and I don't want to be in a crisis again because I get overwhelmed by taking on too much.

 

[joeylittle]

@recoveringfromptsd - is it a group that includes phone support to a therapist?