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Mentalizing in Families: The Key to Understanding and Connection
Family life is full of intense emotions, deep bonds, andâsometimesâmisunderstandings that leave us feeling disconnected. The good news is that thereâs a powerful skill you can learn to transform your relationships: mentalizing.
Jul 31
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Undercontrolled vs Overcontrolled
What does control have to do with it? Families familiar with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) understand its effectiveness in managing...
Jun 10
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Validation and Mentalization
Supporting a Loved One with Borderline Personality Disorder Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) can be an emotionally intense and...
Jun 5
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Core Mindfulness Skills
A REMINDER AND REVIEW FOR SOME. VALUABLE NEW PRACTICES FOR OTHERS. If you have a difficult relationship, these core mindfulness skills...
Mar 21
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Prevent Escalation of Conflict
Three Core Skills Urgent and unrelenting crises of your loved one can leave you and others in the family feeling chronically overwhelmed....
Feb 4
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Presence and Relationships
If you have a difficult relationship with a close family member, you might have inadvertently activated your loved one's intense...
Nov 22, 2024
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Avoid Authority or Appeasement
Both responses sustain aggressive and violent behaviors If your loved one often engages in insistent demands and impulsive behaviors, you...
Nov 20, 2024
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Worried about the holidays?
The year-end holidays can be wonderful and also sources of stress and frustration. Families share more time together. Food, rituals,...
Nov 13, 2024
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DBT therapists have a Consultation Team. Families need a Support Network.
The more you comply with demands for isolation and secrecy, the more reclusive and volatile your loved one becomes. Before you know it, your
Oct 1, 2024
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The âBathroom Breakâ
Start small when it comes to reducing verbal attacks against you or not contributing to an escalating emotional crisis. The bathroom...
Mar 17, 2024
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Strategies for parents of high-anxiety youth who are failing to launch into adulthood
"The phenomenon of highly dependent adult children who are not actively engaged in productive occupational, educational, or vocational...
Nov 26, 2023
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ER: Emotional Regulation Intro
Arguably one of the most important life skills in DBT! Emotional regulation includes a whole set of skills and which we choose depends...
Sep 9, 2023
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ER1: Check the Facts
Does the emotion fit the facts? Emotions can trigger thoughts and interpretations about events and they can distort our perception, which...
Sep 9, 2023
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ER3: Problem Solving
If we can change the emotion by solving the problem, then first solve the problem! Problem solving is an emotional regulation strategy...
Sep 9, 2023
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ER 2: Opposite Action
Opposite action is more than a skill. It is a philosophy of life. Like dialectics or radical acceptance or mindfulness, this is a DBT...
Sep 9, 2023
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ER4: EMOTIONAL REGULATION: Which strategy to use
Now we have three strategies for regulating emotions: Checking the Facts, Opposite Action, and Problem Solving, (not to mention...
Sep 9, 2023
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The Slow Drip
A slow drip can dissolve rock, cut mountains in half, and reshape the planet. Can it cut through the stonewalling of your stubborn love...
Aug 3, 2023
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Trying to regain control over your own reaction to your emotionally reactive family member?
That is where reducing conflict begins! Do you feel like a deer in the headlights in front of your reactive husband? Does your son or...
Jul 27, 2023
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Mentalization Impairments
What is mentalizing? Good mentalizing is inquiring deeply into understanding the mental experiences of self or other. It is trying to...
May 23, 2023
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