Show Notes
It is our tenth episode of TITW! This week, Molly and Liza start by sharing how they practiced Opposite Action in work-related situations: Molly used it to combat procrastination urges and feelings of shame about avoiding "paperwork" (a word no one wants to hear), and Liza used it to set boundaries around doing work at night. We then introduce a creative approach to Problem Solving, which can be used when your emotion and its intensity does fit the facts, and the situation is the problem. Using examples, we walk you through the steps of how DBT approaches problem-solving, which we hope will expand your repertoire of potential solutions to any given problem. Because a fear or unwillingness to experience uncomfortable thoughts and feelings is often a barrier to effective problem-solving, we then teach you how to apply Mindfulness of Current Thoughts and Emotions when unwanted emotions arise. We end the episode with Molly helping Liza apply these skills to the (very relatable) problem of confronting noisy neighbors. We hope you enjoy!
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.