Coping with Mental Illness - DBT

In my last post, I wrote about how I was dealing with a mixed state—a combination of hypomania and depression. While the manic side of the mixed stated is more prevalent, the depressive side is also bothersome. I hate how the manic side keeps me from focusing, pushes me to do or say things I wouldn’t normally, and makes it difficult to sleep. But I also hate how the depressive side saps my energy, makes me sad with little provocation, and has me feeling guilty about any past mistake that crosses my memory.

Last week, I went to see my therapist. I talked to her about what was going on and asked her what DBT skills I should work on. Several years ago, after a hospitalization for depression, I attended a six week class on dialectical behavioral therapy, or DBT. DBT includes four different skill areas including interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and mindfulness. I talked to my therapist about my problems, and she suggested several skills to work on. These skills have been helpful and have definitely improved my mood and increased my effectiveness. 

In some future posts, I’m going to share some of the skills I’ve been working on and how those skills have helped. If you want to read about the types of DBT skills, you can browse the “Skills Lessons” from the website, “DBT Self Help.”

I’m working on skills in three sf the four categories in DBT: mindfulness, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance. Since I’m not dealing with any interpersonal issues, I’m not working on any skills in interpersonal effectiveness. Working on these skills has helped me get through this latest episode, and I really feel like I’ve turned a corner and am almost back to “normal.”

Thanks for reading.