Mindfulness
Non-judgmentally, One-mindfully, and Effectively are considered these.
What are the How skills?
[How many how skills do we do during mindfulness? What do each of these skills mean?]
Assumes that language provides context cues and creates (sometimes false, sometimes maladaptive) connections between concepts, including the self.
What is Relational Frame Theory?
[Which Hexaflex component is relational frame theory most relevant to? How do therapists try to help patients who have pathology related to that component of the Hexaflex?]
Whereas this CAN be achieved, there is no such thing as being able to achieve this.
What are goals and values?
[What other differences are there between goals and values? Which ones does the ACT or DBT therapist think it's "okay" to have?]
An example of this is when the patient chooses not to do his homework between sessions.
What is a therapy-interfering behavior.
[What are the other targets for treatment sessions in Stage 1 of DBT? What will a DBT therapist do if their patient is engaging in therapy-interfering behavior? Who can engage in therapy-interfering behavior?]
Takes into consideration both emotion-based knowledge and logical/analytical knowledge when guiding behavior in a given context in a given moment in time.
What is Wise Mind?
[What are the other two mind states called? Which treatment is Wise Mind related to?]
This is an effort to synthesize and hold together in-the-moment two, apparently opposed, truths.
What are dialectics?
[How is dialectics related to the therapist's frequent use of validation? What is validation, and why is it so important in DBT?]
What are WCP and IIWII?
What is "Whole, Complete, Perfect" and "It is what it is?"
[What are the assumptions that make up the DBT therapists' stance?]
The "Self-Soothe" skill is taught as part of what area of DBT skills?
What is Distress Tolerance?
[Can you come up with objects that might be used for a patient who is feeling really sad? Really anxious? How are these objects used to engage in the Self-Soothe skill?]
Practicing mindfulness is related to this component of the Hexaflex, given that a How skill of mindfulness is "One-Mindfully."
What is Contact with the Present Moment?
What is the difference between "pain" and "suffering?"
While both are "normal" (i.e. common) among humans, pain is a natural, short-lived reaction to an unpleasant stressor of some sort. Suffering is a human experience in which pain is prolonged via experiential avoidance and the pitfalls of language.
[What is experiential avoidance? What is acceptance?]
Living out one's values.
What is Committed Action?
[What technique from Unit 3 would be helpful in getting patients to increasingly engage in committed action? Remember! The behavioral part of CBT and our third wave therapies are the same!]
This area of DBT skills aims to change a person's emotional reaction to a situation.
What is Emotion Regulation?
[What was the Emotion Regulation skill we learned about? How is it supposed to work?]
Give an example of an activity you could Participate in, and explain what Participation is.
Many possible examples (because you can do ANYTHING mindfully). Participation is putting oneself fully into the activity you are attempting to do. Your whole focus is on doing that one thing, as much as doing it is possible.
Whereas ACT is considered (at least) probably efficacious for these disorders, DBT was developed for patients with this.
ACT is an EST for chronic pain, and is also probably efficacious for mood and anxiety disorders. DBT was developed for people with severe emotion dysregulation that often involves self-harm/suicidality (which commonly contributes to a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder).
To counter experiential avoidance, the ACT therapist aims to focus on eliciting and discussing this during sessions.
What is Vitality -- which is the highlighting of values and digging in to the ways in which life is meaningful and how values help the person feel they are truly alive.
What is Team Consultation, and how does it benefit both the therapist and the patient?
Team consultation is a structured weekly meeting of all members of the staff in the DBT clinic (patients are not directly involved). Team consultation directly benefits the therapists by allowing for guidance in decision-making, assistance in maintaining the DBT stance, and helping to reduce feelings of burnout. Team consultation indirectly benefits the patient because it helps ensure they receive sound DBT from a therapist who is not experiencing burnout related to that patient.
[What are the other components of DBT, and how do they facilitate effective treatment?]
Have the class practice mindfulness somehow right now for at least 2 minutes. Identify which What skill we need to do during your mindfulness activity. Explain how we can all apply the How skills to this specific activity.
Many possible answers. For example, mindful eating, body scans, guided listening experiences, mindful standing.
Explain the Chessboard Metaphor and how it is relevant to the Hexaflex.
The chessboard metaphor is a way of explaining the "Self-as-Context" component of the Hexaflex. The person is instructed to think of themselves as the chessboard, upon which actions (including battles) will occur over the course of time. Yet the chessboard itself is not a part of these events; it is merely witness to them.
[Could you also or alternatively explain the Mountain metaphor for Self-as-Context? Can you use the Floating Ball metaphor to explain acceptance? The Heavy Book metaphor to explain acceptance?]
How does an activity like Leaves on a Stream help a person practice Cognitive Defusion?
Using imagery can help the person recognize that their thoughts are an experience they are having, but that they do not "mean" anything more than that. That they are separate from the person -- and from the truth.
[In what other ways can activities like these facilitate psychological flexibility?]
Explain the FAST skill and what type of effectiveness, specifically, it is used for.
FAST stands for (1) be Fair to self and others, (2) no Apologies, (3) Stick to values, and (4) be Truthful without excuses. The FAST skill aims to maintain one's self-respect. So, depending on the specifics of the context, you may need to (1) acknowledge the truth of your side and the other person's side, (2) hold yourself back from apologizing unnecessarily for things (e.g., being alive), (3) be clear about and reiterate what really matters to you, and/or (4) be truthful without trying to "explain away" why you can't/won't do something.