Lay people reading this blog may not be aware of what both Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) or Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT) encompasses. For that reason, I will review both these therapies in this January 2019 blog entry. I learned that it cannot be urged too strongly, on those pupils of CBT and DBT, the necessity of going to work carefully and deliberately. If a person cannot satisfy their progress on the several trials, which is usually the circumstance, they may be disappointed, but it is good to try again. The person will have advanced a particular step, and onward they will progress if they persevere. So, the students of both CBT and DBT are diligent people. I became aware of both these strategies through my studies of both disciplines, DBT and CBT, at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
On another note, there is also Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) to treat PSTD and other forms of prolonged trauma.
Initially, let's cover CBT. It was initially developed by Dr. David Burns to uncover a person's distorted thinking, which plays into how they approach a thinking process. More detailed information of the fifteen styles of distorted thinking is covered in his book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (1980). I came across this summary in a mental health day program. It would be fair to say that these endeavors, to uncover the myths of cognition, are more difficult to ascertain if they are in a dire sustaining situation.
Being Right: A person is continually on trial to prove that their opinions and actions are correct. Being wrong is unthinkable, and they will go to any length to demonstrate their rightness. (This is also called Confirmation Bias.)
Blaming: Other people are responsible for a person's pain or take the other tack and blame themselves for every problem or reversal.
Catastrophic Thinking: A person expects disaster. They notice or hear about a problem and begin the process of "what ifs:" What if tragedy strikes? What if it happens to the person?
Control Fallacies: If a person feels externally controlled, they see themselves as helpless, a victim of fate. The fallacy of internal control has the person responsible for the pain and happiness of everyone around them.
Emotional Reasoning: A person believes that what they feel must be true – automatically. If they feel stupid and annoying, then they must be silly and boring.
The fallacy of Change: A person expects that other people will change to suit them if they just pressure or cajole them enough. They need to change people because their hopes and dreams for happiness seem to depend entirely on them.
The fallacy of Fairness: A person may feel resentful because they think that another person knows what is fair, but other people don't agree with them
The mistake of Receiving a Reward: A person expects all their sacrifice and self-denial is going to pay off as if there is someone keeping score. They feel bitter when the reward doesn't come.
Filtering: A person takes the negative details and magnifies them while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation.
Global Labeling: A person generalizes on or two qualities into a universal adverse judgment. (Also called Confirmation Bias.)
Mind Reading: Without saying so, a person knows that other people are feeling and thinking why they act the way they do. They believe that they are able to divine what other people are feeling towards them as if they know the inner sanctum of their soul.
Overgeneralization: A person comes to a general conclusion based upon a single incident or piece of information/evidence. If something terrible happens, the expectation is that it will happen over again. (Domestic violence is probably an exception here, as well as other detrimental situations that are ongoing.)
Personalization: Thinking that everything a person does or say is a reaction to them. They compare themselves to others, trying to determine who is smarter, better-looking et al.
Polarized Thinking: Things are black or white, good or bad. A person must be perfect, or they think that they are a failure. There is no middle ground.
Should: A person has a list of ironclad rules about how others ought to act. People who break the rules anger them, and a person may feel guilty if they, too, violate the laws.
Next, let’s cover Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). It was developed by Marsha M. Linehan, PhD. of the University of Washington in 1993. First, designated as a treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder, it has now been widely used for an array of diagnoses.
“As the name suggests, DBT is based on a dialectical world view. “Dialectics,” as applied to behavior therapy, has two meanings: that the fundamental nature of reality, and that of persuasive dialogue and relationship. As a world view or philosophical position, dialectics forms the basis of DBT. Alternatively, as dialogue and relationship, dialectics refer to the treatment approach or strategies used by the therapist to effect change.” Marsha Linehan
Notice that the run-up to the next toolkit is the use of acronyms. Specifically, the words "accept" and "improve" are given so the tools are more readily accessible to people trying to find themselves out of an inertia of what to do next in a sticky emotional situation.
DISTRACT with "Wise Mind Accepts."
Activities
Contributing
Comparisons
Emotions
Pushing away
Thoughts
Sensations
SELF-SOOTHE the FIVE SENSES.
Vision
Hearing
Smell
Taste
Touch
IMPROVE THE MOMENT.
Imagery
Meaning
Prayer
Relaxation
One thing at a time
Vacation
Encouragement