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BerniceH
08-22-2005, 06:08 AM
I went through DBT, and all of these fears and worries got me to thinking, I need to revert back to how I was helped in therapy. I thought I'd post this for you all.

Letting Go of Emotional Suffering:
Mindfulness of Your Current Emotion

OBSERVE YOUR EMOTION
NOTE its presence.
Step BACK.
Get UNSTUCK from the emotion

EXPERIENCE YOUR EMOTION
As a WAVE, coming and going.
Try not to BLOCK emotion.
Try not to SUPPRESS emotion.
Don't try to GET RID of emotion
Don't PUSH it away.
Don't try to KEEP emotion around.
Don't HOLD ON to it.
Don't AMPLIFY it.

REMEMBER YOURE ARE NOT YOUR EMOTION
Do not necessarily ACT on emotion.
Remember times when you have felt DIFFERENT.

PRACTICE LOVING YOUR EMOTION
Don't JUDGE your emotion
Practice WILLINGNESS
Radically ACCEPT your emotion.

--
Changing emotions by acting opposite to the current emotion
[I'm only putting the two specific ones]
FEAR
Do what you are afraid of doing, over and over and over
APPROACH events, places, tasks, activities, and people you are afraid of.
Do things to give yourself a Sense of CONTROL and MASTERY
When overwhelmed, make a list of small steps or tasks you can do. DO THE FIRST THING on the list.

SADNESS OR DEPRESSION
Get ACTIVE. APPROACH, don't avoid.
Do things that make you feel COMPETENT AND SELF-CONFIDENT.

Other helpful hints:
Accumulate Positives
Attend to all relationships.
Avoid avoiding. Do not give up.
Focus attention on positive events that happen.
Refocus when your mind wanders to the negative.
Distract from - Thinking about when the positive experience will end, whether you deserve this positive experience, and how much more might be expected of you now.

--

One of the greatest things I've learned is PLEASE MASTER.
Treat PhysicaL illness. Balance Eating. Avoid mood-Altering drugs. Balance Sleep. Get Exercise. Builde MASTERy (Trying to do one thing a day to make yourself feel competent and in control).

--

I have a whole binder full of this stuff if you all would like more, including almost two hundred tasks to do to help yourself feel better about life.




mommabear
08-22-2005, 04:45 PM
Thanks Bernice :thumb

aweynsayl
08-24-2005, 01:39 PM
:thumb

I'd love some! I just solved my huge drama from the past two months, but I love positive life affirming exercises!!!

:love

muse
10-14-2005, 11:21 AM
Aha, thankyou! I just read a great piece about Zen Buddhism and DBT, which made me want to find out more of the specifics of DBT techniques. I'd be really interested to know more about the depression end of things, that's where I have the hardest time. I once read a great piece on buddhism and depression which basically was a reminder not to sink into self-absorption, and to tackle the depression by doing something concrete and useful, like washing the dishes. I did try it out that day and remember it worked perfectly, but I can't say I always remember in time....

Black Orchid
10-14-2005, 03:19 PM
Thanks for the reminder! Its hard to maintain perspective sometimes.