DBT is a decent therapy for borderline personality disorder and it can teach us a lot about regulation. It is also not meant to be used for trauma or dissociative disorders. That is why we will run into problems, when we try to use DBT skills here. The concept of dissociation in DBT is one […]
DBT Skills
Gauge your inner Life
The three main concepts we need for self-regulation are gauges, regulators and containers. As staying within the window of tolerance is one of our main goals (the other two are „being in the present“ and „being connected“) we need something that helps us to figure out where we are at. We need some kind of […]
SkillKit to go
We have talked about the window of tolerance, how you can use Skills to stop dissociation and self-harm using both body and mind, how to use Skills to stay within your window of tolerance through relational regulation, distraction, containment, imagery and mindfulness. We also explained how to chain Skills to make them the most effective. […]
The A-Z of pleasure and enjoyment
We experience the world around us through our senses. Trauma has often taught us that these experiences of contact with the world are painful, scary, dangerous and need to be avoided. Some were taught to fear all their sensations, especially the pleasant ones. And so we learned not to experience the world through our senses […]
How to work with Skill-Lists
Lists with Skills are awesome and inspiring. But you need to work with them to shape them into a tool you can use. This post will help you organize your Skills so that they are ready when you need them. When it comes to Skills I want to give you biblical advice: “Test them all; […]
Skills for Yellow area (6/7): Distraction
This post is based on The window of tolerance Because our main goal is to stay within the window of tolerance, we need to learn how to regulate ourselves within the yellow area. We distinguish between self-regulation and relational regulation. Most people favor one or the other, but it is important to be able to use […]
DID-adapted behavior chain analysis (system-harming behavior)
If you struggle with self-harm and dissociation and you have had DBT you will have worked with a behavior chain analysis. (If you struggle with self-harm and dissociation and you did not have DBT we highly recommend doing it.) We love the behavior chain analysis, but there are limits. Sometimes other parts commit the self-harm, […]
Skills for green area (prevention of dissociation)
This post is based on The one most important concept you NEED to know to stop dissociation: window of tolerance To avoid dissociation we are trying to regulate ourselves within the yellow and green area. Strictly speaking, skills for the green area are not “skills” as we know them. They qualify as “prevention” but I want […]
Safety Plan (suicidal)
When struggling with suicidal thoughts, it is helpful to have a plan you can follow to keep yourself safe. This plan should be made in advance. Thinking isn’t very clear during a crisis and you won’t be able to come up with a good plan. This is a rough outline so you can write […]
Relational regulation
This post is based on The one most important concept you NEED to know to stop dissociation: window of tolerance Because our main goal is to stay within the window of tolerance, skills for the red/blue area should become rare interventions, while we learn how to regulate ourselves within the yellow area (dotted line) before […]
The Distant Observer (Mindfulness)
With the distant observer we imitate something, that most of us experienced through dissociation. We will take an inner position that makes it possible to watch ourselves and what is going on inside of us from a distance. Not a detached, dissociated state, but the dispassionate ideal of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a form of guided […]
Some Skills for Hyper/Hypoarousal: the mind
When we are feeling “too much” (red/ 10-8 / hyperarousal) or “not enough” (blue/ 3-1/ hypoarousal) we need to get “out” of the feeling and either into the body or into the mind. To get “into the mind” we use either mindfulness or what I’m going to call “mental gymnastics”. Some people prefer using “body”-skills because […]