Skills Training DBT Psyc 451

Skills training – DBT Modules A min of 6 months, 2-2 and a half hour groups A leader and co-leader Agenda determined by the set of skills taught Targets: 1) Therapy destroying behaviors 2) Increasing skills acquisition, strenghtening, and generalization 3) Decreasing therapy-interfering behaviors (not the primary focus of group training, put on extinction schedule if possible)

Skills training – DBT Modules Mindfulness skills Interpersonal effectiveness skills Emotion regulation skills Distress tolerance skills

Required Skills 1 Mindfulness skills Core skills, taught the first two weeks and at the beginning of each module for two consecutive weeks Learning to manage pain skillfully rather than change it Psychological and behavioral versions of meditation skills. Three “what” skills (observing, describing, participating) Three “how” skills (taking a nonjudgmental stance, focusing on one thing at the moment, being effective) naz

Required Skills 2 Distress Tolerance Ability to tolerate and accept distress. Crisis survival skills (until the problem can be solved) and accepting reality skills (to tolerate problems that cannot be solved) Crisis survival skills: 4 sets of strategies: distracting (activities, other thoughts, etc.), self-soothing (vision, hearing ,smell, etc.), improving the moment (prayer, relaxation, etc.), and thinking of pros and cons naz

Required Skills 2 Distress Tolerance Crisis survival skills: 4 sets of strategies: distracting (activities, other thoughts, etc.), self-soothing (vision, hearing ,smell, etc.), improving the moment (prayer, relaxation, etc.), and thinking of pros and cons Acceptance skills Observing my breath, Half-smiling, Awareness Radical acceptance, turning the mind, willingness naz

Required Skills 3 Emotion Regulation Emotion regulation: borderline individuals are affectively intense and labile 1. Identifying and labeling affect: identify and label ongoing, current emotions 2. Identifying obstacles to changing emotions: identify functions and reinforces for particular emotional behaviors (if one hates another, this does not mean other is worthy of being hated) 3. Reducing vulnerability to emotion mind: balanced nutrition, eating habits, adequate exercise, sleep, etc. 4. Increasing positive emotional events: increasing number of positive events in one’s life 5. Increasing mindfulness to current emotion: experience emotions without judging them 6. Taking opposite action: acting in a way that is inconsistent with the emotion (approaching what she is afraid of) 7. Applying distress tolerance techniques naz

Required Skills 4 and Self-Management Interpersonal effectiveness skills: effective strategies of asking for what one needs, saying no, coping with interpersonal conflict Self-management skills: Any attempt to control, manage or otherwise change one’s own behavior, thoughts or emotional responses naz