Growlycat-I feel like I know what you mean about being blocked to the benefits of the present focused skills based models until you'd taken the psychodynamic approach.I feel like I can relate in the sense that I have so much grief and con fusion about it all that it leads to such a sense of nothingness and hopelessness that it's hard to have the motivation to do the dbt/cbt.
Plus, we have just started doing a worksheet on core beliefs and one of my core beliefs is that I am not like other human beings, that I am subhuman like an animal- my dad used to call me this, and this is how I used to live, so the belief is still very much there as it was cemented by so many years of it all. However, I find it hard to find reasons why this belief among others I have may not be true, and I feel this is because I don't 'get' my past. If you have never lived like other people, it's hard to believe you're not sub human. I have no framework within which to understand my past. I just don't get it, and because it continued past the age of 18, I blame myself and I think I may very well believe I deserve to be punished which makes incorporating the dbt/cbt skills to enhance my quality of life very difficult. I also feel like there isn't any hope which again is a block to practising and using the skills, and I guess that belief also comes from being stuck there so long.I have heard that dbt/cbt is supposed to be used prior to processing trauma though to stabilise the traumatised client.

Growlycat and IGottaBMe and RagingQuiet- Were you guys put off from cutting ties with your therapists due to feeling bad about wasting money or feeling like you had otherwise invested in the therapist? Also, did you struggle with berating yourself for choosing the wrong therapist for you, and did you feel bad for cutting ties with them if they were a pleasant person? I was wondering, because they are the kinds of feelings I have, so wondered if you had experienced similar. The waste of money aspect does get me down.It probably wouldn't bother me so much if I weren't in such a bad position financially.I was seeing her twice a week for quite a few months so that is a lot of money I have spent to end up not making any progress. :-/