Show Notes
Liza and Molly begin the episode by reviewing their practice of the fundamental DBT mindfulness "What" skills: Observe, Describe, and Participate. Molly reflects on the importance of using these skills to notice and name uncomfortable emotions, and Liza warns listeners about the dangers of significant others using DBT skills against you ;) We then teach the skill of the week: Nonjudgmentally. We know it's hard to avoid judgments about being nonjudgmental (we had them too!) so we address many of the common concerns and misconceptions about this skill. Judgments (about yourself or others) negatively impact relationships, emotions, and problem solving, so we provide steps to re-frame inevitable judgments using the core Observe and Describe mindfulness skills we reviewed last week. Finally, Molly provides coaching on a very timely situation that Liza is having lots of judgments about. We encourage you to practice the skill of acting nonjudgmentally alongside us, and share your experiences with us at [email protected]. Stay skillful!
More from Therapists In The Wild
In our last episode of the Therapists in the Wild podcast, we're coming full circle: dialectics was the topic of our first ever episode, and now we're wrapping it up two years later by letting our listeners in on how we have used a dialectical frame to face this ending head on. We review the DBT skills we used to lean into our discomfort, to have difficult conversations that have deepened our relationship, and ultimately, to radically accept this change in a way that felt true to ourselves, our friendship, and, we hope, to our listeners. We try, more so than ever, to practice radical genuineness and vulnerability in this emotion-filled episode. We are more grateful to you, our listeners, than we can possibly express. We hope that you will continue to share the podcast, stay subscribed, and follow us on social media to stay involved in our future projects.
This month's episode is a re-release of an episode introducing one of our favorite DBT skills: Radical Acceptance (Episode 23). We hope you enjoy and look forward to being back next month for the final episode of Season 2!
"Burnout" has become a buzzword since the start of the pandemic, for good reason. Many of us are feeling burnt out, in many areas of life, and could benefit from using DBT skills to cope.
Happy New Year, TITW listeners! As we head into the new year, we're reflecting on the values we want to prioritize and how we can commit to moving toward those values. Since deepening relationships and creating new ones has been on our minds lately, we decided to do an episode on vulnerability. Vulnerability can be defined as "the practice of taking emotional risks even when the outcome is uncertain." We start out by discussing certain forms of anxiety that interfere with opening up even to trusted people in our lives. We then explore what we miss out on when we act on this anxiety (i.e. missing opportunities for closer relationships, as well as feedback, support, and validation). We end by suggesting a few DBT and other skills to use in the moment when anxiety is holding you back from being vulnerable with someone you trust.
This month on TITW, we're practicing self-compassion. Liza and Molly have been studying the work of Dr. Kristin Neff, a psychologist and researcher who breaks down the practice of self-compassion into concrete steps. We've noticed a lot of overlap between Dr. Neff's work and DBT skills, and we discuss the similarities in this episode.