When kids struggle with poor emotional regulation, their moods shift between lashing out and withdrawal. When this happens, it is incredibly difficult to understand what is actually going on. Let alone what you can do to help. If you're child experiences these intense emotions, they may benefit from a DBT skills group like the ones we offer at Montgomery Country Counseling.
As we close out the year, we are asked, if not expected, to keep looking forward. We might be asked (perhaps virtually) what our New Year’s resolutions will be? What our goals are for after the clock strikes midnight? But today, I ask you to pause. Resolutions and goals are important. AND so is acceptance of just being wherever you are. I want to ask you to consider a new, perhaps different skill to bring with you into 2021: Turning the mind towards accceptance.
I find myself reflecting upon how different this year has been for me and for many that I know. The changes, the uncertainty, the losses experienced during the pandemic weight heavily in a way that complicates how I approach my normal year-end reflection. Understanding how difficult this year has been for so many of my loved ones and clients is part of the reason I decided to write about my own journey to acceptance through the pandemic.
Two of the most prominent and common therapy styles right now, and especially at Montgomery County Counseling Center, are CBT and DBT. Here is a quick distinction to help you understand the differences and similarities between CBT and DBT
For those not familiar with the DEARMAN DBT skill, it lives in the Interpersonal Effectiveness module. It is used to ask skillfully for what you want or need in such a way that increases the likelihood that the want or need is met.
Parenting can be the hardest role that we have, especially as the manual seems to have been misplaced while we’re left trying to gut it out day by day. There seems to be an expectation that as we’ve been there before that we’ll have the ability, knowledge and skills to help our children through the aging process. We are all doing the best we can given the circumstances. So… what do we do when that doesn't seem to be enough?
There is so much info in this hour long interview that I wanted to break it down so you can jump around to topics you want to hear about! It's not 100% perfect and we covered A LOT but I hope this helps for those wanting to listen in shorter chunks!
Watch Laura's interview (or read the full transcript) with Sandstone Care, a treatment program in Rockville Maryland for teens and young adults with co-occuring substance use and mental health concerns. We talk about how DBT fits into substance use treatment as well as the basics of family therapy and the biosocial theory.
