Lived Experience Forum

[Becstar160]

Hey all just a question about dbt. I was recommended it by a friend and am starting to look into it for the Borderline Personality Disorder. Wondering if anyone has had a success story on it or even some not so success stories? Just want to hear from people that have done it

[suzimo]

Hey Becstar
I did some dbt with my psychologist. Like any treatment it has its ups and downs. I must say though, you get more out of it if you want to learn new coping strategies. I struggled at first due to resorting to old learned behaviors. Once I realised these behaviors were counterproductive I tried harder to really challege thoughts and embrace change. BPD is tough. I still challenge my diagnosis and many of my workers thought it eas the illness...
I always say to anyone comsidering it as an option to give it a go... you have nothing to lose and possibly alot to gain.

[NikNik]

Hi @Becstar160

Welcome to the Forums!

I have seen a few people talk about DBT. @Chris talked about it here and @BlueButterfly50 was our special guest who discussed all things BPD, including DBT here

It's a great question - I hope others share their story as @suzimo has

Welcome again!

[Cherpieus]

Hi there,

Of all the treatments I've had over the years, DBT has been the best. I found CBT useless because it focusses on trying to change the way you think. DBT helps you cope with how you think and feel.

It is definately worth looking into.

[suzimo]

Totally agree. Well said.

[Anon1981]

Hey there... definitely give the group therapy a go. I believe the versions that are delivered vary between state and council areas depending on funding but maybe aim to find the longest running weekly group program you can and then still have individual coaching regularly too. It takes discipline to practice a lot of exercises which may sometimes seem silly, impractical or obvious but, in my and my best friend's experience, it has been extremely valuable for ourselves internally and for better understanding how non-BPDs think. All the best!

[Anon1981]

Oh yeah and, if you want to have a look at what the course involves, all the handouts and worksheets are in this book which you can order: http://behavioraltech.org/products/details.cfm?pc=GP16

[CannonSalt]

Hi @Becstar160 I did a little bit of DBT with a psychologist, and all too late, I found his delivery of it was unexpectedly religious.  I did not end up completing it because I found his approach to the religious content inappropriate, and it eventually became belittling, depressing and unethical.  I can't speak to its effectiveness as a therapy, because I got worse under his 'care'.  I wasn't diagnosed with BPD - I think it was just that this psych's only tool was hyper-religious DBT, and so every problem got fixed with it. I have some health issues which result in chronic pain and chronic tiredness, and this impacted on my motivation to participate in DBT. 

DBT was created by Marsha M. Linehan in the 60s and 70s, coming from her own experience with being diagnosed with schitzophrenia and the treatment she recieved as a MH patient.  She did an in-depth interview with the NY Times in 2011 which goes into her philosophy.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/health/23lives.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0  It takes some concepts from Catholicism and Zen Buddhism and combines them with CBT.

I found that as I got into it, it had a very 'tough love' approach - every objection I made to the therapy was treated as a sign of my mental illness.  I don't think this was solely due to my psychologist, either - on DBT's website, it says that (my emphasis) "Clients unintentionally positively reinforced their therapists for ineffective treatment while punishing their therapists for effective therapy. For example, the research team noticed through its review of taped sessions that therapists would "back off" pushing for change of behavior when the client's response was one of anger, emotional withdrawal, shame, or threats of self-harm. Similarly, clients would reward the therapist with interpersonal warmth or engagement if the therapist allowed them to change the topic of the session from one they did not want to discuss to one they did want to discuss."

http://behavioraltech.org/resources/whatisdbt.cfm

I agree that at least some of the skills seem too commonsensical - but they might be helpful for others. 

I found that the concept of radical acceptance entirely too radical, it seemed like accepting abuse - which could have been due to my psych being unethical.  I found the 'radical acceptance' aspects of my DBT to seem to try to force me to bear the unbearable (this is called 'distress tolerance' in DBT). My psych only defined radical acceptance when I compared radical acceptance to abuse. 

This is not fuzzy bunny feel-good therapy, this is bootcamp to help deal with a valley of tears by practice, practice, practice... and I eventually felt like if I didn't make a formal complaint, someone else like me could end up seriously hurt.  I only got a small way through 'intelligent people love talking about religion' DBT and that was well and truly more than enough.  I would urge you to know your rights as a patient before going in.

[suzimo]

I totally agree CannonSalt. You need to know your rights and have a look at the material and course structure before committing fully to it. Do go blindly. It could do more harm

[CannonSalt]

Thanks, @suzimo , that means a lot to me. 🙂 My psych only described DBT as 'radical' to me before obtaining my consent - and if I had known that he would often waste half the time talking about how religion was a force for good in the world and the true source of all good things, I would have known to run like hell. I got so frustrated I started to SH and have panic attacks before therapy - without being able to confide that in my psych because he thought my troubles with religion were all "therapy-interfering behaviors" to be ignored or expunged, rather than my own genuine self-expression.  Hindsight. 😄  Since I made the formal complaint successfully, I have stopped SH.

Suzimo, what do you think about my descriptions of the course content?  (Not my descriptions of my psych.)  Are they complete/fairish, for the parts I have described?  Were they issues for you as well?