Good morning DBT adventurers, 
@Awpgirl I super love the fact that one of your names is Phoenix! I found it super interesting what you shared regarding the distinction your psych makes between complex PTSD and BPD. I have never heard that argument before. I wonder if it is research based or whether it is their personal opinion. If I was a betting person, I'd say it is their personal opinion. But then, from what I can tell, pretty much everything around the discussion of C-PTSD vs BPD is personal opinion.
I'm wondering if @Determined has some thoughts about the idea that people with BPD show the traits of BPD all the time whereas those with C-PTSD only show them when their trauma is activated {waves to Determined}. I remember a few months ago, Determined and I were talking about whether BPD is episodic or not. My personal experience is that I am me 24/7 and thus the language of being "unwell" vs being "well" makes no sense to me. This doesn't mean I am in crisis 24/7 - whether I'm in crisis or not depends on what is happening in my world.
My personal view on the C-PTSD vs BPD debate is that BPD should have been renamed C-PTSD in the DSM-V. I know the argument against doing this was that not everyone with BPD has a trauma history. My counter-argument to this is that the vast majority of people with BPD do have a trauma history and those that don't have most likely been misdiagnosed with BPD. I absolutely 100% own this as my personal opinion and do not in any way claim to be "right."
@Awpgirl I definitely agree with your psych when he says it is irrelevant as to whether you have a C-PTSD label or a BPD label. C-PTSD is not even technically a formal diagnosis because it was not included in the DSM-V. The thing that does bug me is when people get given both labels. I see no value in that at all and I believe it can only increase distress by giving someone the idea that they have two issues to deal with rather than one.
Awpgirl I personally think it is fine to drift around the DBT modules and pick the ones you find most relevant. Mindfulness is very much the cornerstone of DBT and this is why it is the first module in all of the suggested weekly schedules in the DBT training manual. However the sequence of the other three modules does vary across the different schedules.
The plan that @CheerBear and I are following is the 24 week schedule so in THEORY we would work through the whole program in 24 weeks. However, given we both tend to get caught up in muddles in the real world a lot, we decided to change the word "weeks" to "steps". So, we are following the schedule, but no, we aren't getting through the session plan for each week in a week. It's a bit of an ad-hoc adventure...and that's ok.
Having said that, I have actually been writing the next installment over the past few days and I plan to post it on Wednesday.
I'm super excited that you are joining us @Awpgirl.
Oh...I almost forgot...you asked if people with BPD dissociate. Yes, one of the diagnostic criteria for BPD is transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptom. This doesn't mean that everyone with BPD dissociates. There are nine diagnostic criteria and a person needs to meet five or more of them to receive a diagnosis of BPD. I personally do dissociate a lot.
@Former-Member I super appreciated your thoughts about whether someone can ever do something requiring high level thinking (such as write an essay) while in the middle of a tsunami strength storm. It very much reinforces to me how incredibly unhelpful the "just do it" message is. I have found one of the most useful phrases I have learnt over the years is "I can't do it right now." It's not that I can't do it...it's that I can't do it right now.
Happily, I am through my degree now and thus I don't have to write any more essays - yay! However, I have exactly the same issue here in DBT adventure land. This is precisely why we aren't moving through the manual as quickly as I would like to. When I am in crisis my brain shuts down and I very much go into survival mode. At that point, I simply cannot think. I super struggle with concentration issues all of the time - hence why things take me a loooooooong time. However, when I'm in crisis, it goes from things taking a long time, to things simply being impossible. Thank you for validating the idea that some times we simply cannot "just do it."
@Phoenix_Rising wrote:@CheerBear from what you describe, does that mean that if you had to write an essay in the days before you went to the break place, you'd be able to?
Help us push aside the stigma and discrimination surrounding complex mental health and change the way people talk about, and care for, mental illness.
SANE acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and to Elders past and present.
SANE values diversity. We are committed to providing a safe, culturally appropriate, and inclusive service for all people, regardless of their ethnicity, faith, disability, sexuality, or gender identity.
Help us push aside the stigma and discrimination surrounding complex mental health and change the way people talk about, and care for, mental illness.
SANE acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and to Elders past and present.
SANE values diversity. We are committed to providing a safe, culturally appropriate, and inclusive service for all people, regardless of their ethnicity, faith, disability, sexuality, or gender identity.