Good comments; I experience some of the same, but mostly i get stuck in some area of pain, trying to figure out what happened - if it was hurtful or threatening. I had a tough session with my T today. She ran through the DSM (?) book on bpd because i said again
i couldn't let go of some experiences. I scored only 2 out of the 9. I also tried not to conflict with her, (as I'm recovering from hospital), but she insisted she never said something and I was making an observation as I remember it. I love my T. If you can get the dbt part of mindfulness skills, there are emotional regulations skills, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness skills. I just reread this part on letting go of emotional suffering..."observe, acknowledge, experience the emotion without BEING the emotion. She states suffering is reduced by acknowledging emotional pain. For instance, my younger daughter left for Ca August 23. At first, my emotion of missing her, and the fact that she's 3000 miles west, hurt at first....then i focussed on the good she is finding...a new job...warm climate....i'm n
ot abandoned....helped me take hold of the facts. I don't know the answer to emotions getting in our way or out of control, or making us feel "stuck". "Act in ways that make you feel capable and effective". I like Linehan's ideas, but bpd is an Axis II disorder, and depression is Axis I. T insisted I'm not really BP, but I do have some of the traits, so I'm just trying to target those. Sorry, I ran on and on. What I don't understand is, when several in one group have 5 - 9 traits per DBT as defined in the DSM (Axis II), how can this be so? They are specific problems, not generalizations, a group might have in common. But we have different minds and physiology. We have different parents, siblings, and adult relationships, and still one group might have the exact same 5 -9 traits. Am I missing something here? I know it's a skill to distract and play music, games, take a walk or something when emotions get stuck. I try to do this when I'm not getting factual answers to a problem. Oh, well....see you soon....Have a great evening and week. Peace, "to help a friend".................