DBT OC Blog
How do DBTOC Staff Self-Care?
Posted by DBT Center of Orange County in Benefits of DBT, Mindfulness, Wellness
We at DBTOC believe self-care is vital to our well-being. When we don’t take care of ourselves we can feel exhausted, depleted and resentful. On the other hand, when we are practicing self-care, we tend to have more energy, feel better, think more clearly and make steps to accomplish our goals and live a life aligned with our values.Our team has been revamping our personal self-care routines and learning new ways to support each other’s wellness. We attended a workshop to be curious about our current self-care practices and brainstorm ways to improve our regimens. We attended a yoga class as a team. We want to now share with you some of our team’s self-care tips!
Ten Signs Your Teen is Depressed
Posted by Nora Josephson LPC, RYT in Awareness, Benefits of DBT
With it being Suicide Prevention Month, I believe depression is an important topic to discuss. The CDC states suicide is a leading cause of death in the U.S. According to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention (2016) 9th through 12th graders report that 17% seriously considered suicide, 13.6% made a plan for how to commit suicide, 8% attempted suicide and 2.7% made suicide attempts requiring medical attention. Sometimes an adolescent’s struggle with depression can be underestimated because of their age. Adolescence is a time when changing hormones can cause mood swings and it is often difficult to tell what is normal adolescent behavior and when a teen is clinically depressed.Your Teen May Be Depressed if They:
DBT and Substance Abuse
Posted by Dr. Michele Lob PsyD., MFT, CEDS in Benefits of DBT
Did you know that there is a Dialectical Behavior Therapy curriculum specific to targeting Substance Abuse? DBT-SUD adds new principles, strategies, and protocols to address addiction and has numerous Random Clinical Trials (RCT’s) in support of its effectiveness.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy In Action: Using Skills at Disneyland
Posted by Kati McCormick, ASW in Benefits of DBT
Woohoo, you’re going to Disneyland! With all of your family! Or all of your friends! All with demands and opinions and expectations! It’s going to be fun, right?! Everyone’s saying it will be. But when it’s over, you feel like you’ve spent more time deciding what ride to do next or where to eat than actually doing anything, you are sunburnt, there have been arguments, tears, fighting, storming off, you’ve swallowed back retorts to at least 15 invalidating statements, and you firmly believe that people should have to pass a test and obtain a license to operate a scooter. What happened?
Summer Family Activities & Improving Parent-Child Relationships with Validation
Posted by Nora Josephson LPC, RYT in Benefits of DBT
All relationships need positive interactions. If all you experience together is criticism and fighting, it is impossible to feel supported, loved, relaxed and happy. Jill H. Rathus and Alex L. Miller discuss the importance of parent-child pleasant activities in DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents. They explain how these activities “can help keep family members close, reduce emotional vulnerability, and be a buffer for those negative family interactions” (Rathus & Miller, 2015).
This Is Me
Posted by Carolyn Huckabay LCSW in Benefits of DBT
I recently watched The Greatest Showman and listened to it’s hit song “This is Me” and it got me thinking about boundaries…
As a Dialectical Behavioral Therapist, I work with clients who often experience a history of trauma. One of the key elements of trauma is that one’s boundaries have been violated. When our boundaries have not been protected and in an effort to survive, we learn to build fortresses and moats around our hearts ensuring no one dare enter with 100 yards often leading to lives of loneliness or isolation. Or to the other extreme, we let people come into our lives without so much as a security clearance, which in turn can lead to re-victimization and re-traumatization. Or perhaps we oscillate between the two extremes, the push and pull response. Furthermore, boundary violations lead to difficulty setting limits (i.e. saying no or ask for help) and difficulties forming a sense of who we are and being able to distinguish our wants and needs versus others.
Self-Caring with DBT
Posted by Nora Josephson LPC, RYT in Benefits of DBT
Self-care is a buzz word in today’s popular culture. We are hearing about it at work, in blogs, during therapy and in conversations with friends. Coworkers, family, friends and therapists ask, “Are you taking care of yourself? What are you doing to get a break from life? Are you making time for self-care?” How many of us focus our ‘well-being’ around pleasing others while neglecting to take care of our own needs.
Here at the DBT Center of Orange County we believe that taking care of yourself – mind, body and soul -- is of the utmost importance. The major goal of DBT is to build a Life Worth Living! Self-care is an important piece of that puzzle.
Coping with the Holidays
Posted by Nora Josephson LPC, RYT in Benefits of DBT
The holidays can be a stressful time for all of us! Discover ways to cope during the holidays using DBT skills including: Cope Ahead, PLEASE and Effective Rethinking and Paired Relaxation by reading below!
Cope Ahead is such an important skill to prepare ahead of time for stressful situations. Read through the following instructions to prepare for, imagine and practice coping effectively with a stressful situation.
Most importantly, the DBT Center of Orange County wishes you a Peaceful and Joyful Holiday Season.
Self Criticism or Self Compassion
Posted by Kathy Purdy MFTI in Benefits of DBT
An important aspect of Dialectical Behavior Therapy is recognizing self-criticism and judgments and cultivating self-compassion. This is something most of our patients work on every day. Recently, an article in the Huffington Post made a convincing case for why self-compassion is more effective and helpful than self-criticism.
Additionally, Dr. Kristin Neff, who is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on self-compassion, speaks about three core components of self-compassion. I hope this article and YouTube video help to motivate us all to question how effective our own self-criticism has been and to consider including more self-compassion into our lives.
Peace is a Choice
Posted by Dana Conley, M.A., C.Ht. in Benefits of DBT
"Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of these things and still be calm in your heart." (Unknown)
The unknown individual, to whom this quote is attributed, had a great perspective about what "please" means. I imagine they knew how to get to that place of peace within them and what it meant to be calm in their heart.
What does it mean to be calm in your heart? How do you get to that place within you amidst the noise, trouble, and hard work around you?
To me, being calm in my heart is an experience of INNER PEACE. When I am calm in my heart, I feel peaceful. It also means to be OK with what is... That means being OK with what is happening around me, what is happening to me, and what is happening within me – and doing so without judging anything as bad or wrong, noisy or hard.
