BPD Awareness Month- DBT Diary: PLEASE SKILLS
If you followed some of the big changes in my life last year, you’ll know I have recently been diagnosed with Borderline/ Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder- A mental health disorder that causes emotional dysregulation and interpersonal chaos.
May is borderline Personality Disorder awareness month, and it seems poignant that I am moving into my second “term” of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy- An intense form of therapy designed to reduce dangerous coping mechanisms.
For the next 6 months, I will be repeating the program of mindfulness, emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness and distress tolerance skills that I have just learned, to really cement them in my mind and ensure I use them as effectively as possible.
While I repeat these skills, I will be exploring them in an Art Journal that I have Nicknamed the “DBT Diary”. And I want to share this process with you…
Therapy is HARD. It can be messy, uncomfortable… The perfect subject matter for a mixed media treasury!
Feel free to join me in creating your own mental health recovery/DBT journal- and share them with me on twitter using #DBTdiary
EMOTIONAL REGULATION- Week 1
Last week we re-started the Emotional Regulation model, discovering the PLEASE Skills- A set of skills that promote self care, with the aim of reducing emotional vulnerability.
PLEASE Skills Journal Entry Mixed Media Collage
I Created this journal entry using collage, paints, sponges, stickers and fine-liner pens. I tried to use colours I was drawn to, as this furthers the “self care” aspect. The words “Take Care” Aim to inspire the whole piece.
The PLEASE Skills
- Treat Physical Illness
- Balance Eating
- Avoid Mood Altering Substances
- Balance Sleep
- Exercise
The Please skills are the first line of defence against emotional vulnerability. Many people with BPD are unable to commit to all these areas, as it often co exists with substance dependency or abuse, eating disorders, insomnia and depression (affecting motivation).
However, by committing to at least some of these areas, we better prepare ourselves for emotional changes and situations.
(The Please Skills are also a great example of when Marsha Linehan (the creator of DBT) really shoe-horns in an acronym!)
This week I will be Journalling on Build Mastery, and the Emotional Response Chain, Which I will share next thursday!
BPD Artists- I would love to see your DBT Journals, Share them with me (@MichelleM_Art) on twitter using #DBTdiary
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