All of us struggle at times to accept the reality we have been dealt. Sometimes reality is so painful we would rather pretend that some things do not exist or never happened. However, there are many reasons ...

Have you ever noticed something about someone else before that person did? Maybe that person has a funny tic or says the work “like” way too many times in one sentence. On the flip side, have you ever ...

In the previous blog, we discussed the first three components of mindfulness: 1. To be aware2. On purpose3. In the present However, there is one more component of mindfulness: “Without judging.” ...

When people hear the word mindfulness, sometimes they think of meditation or great mystical experiences. However, the concept of mindfulness is actually quite simple and ordinary. In this blog, I would ...

Perhaps you have heard the term “mindful.” “Mindfulness” seems to be the latest buzzword in treatment circles, not to mention society in general. But actually, the concept of mindfulness has been ...

As previously mentioned, trauma has a way of throwing our lives out of sync in many different ways and directions. In this blog, we will focus on how trauma affects two mental processes: awareness and ...

Trauma affects different people in different ways. But there’s one thing trauma always does: It throws you off balance. In fact, the effects of trauma can you leave you feeling so out of sync that you ...

Summary (Part 10 of 10) Ongoing trauma results in overstimulation of both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (accelerator and brake), resulting in a variety of responses that are either ...

DEAR Adult: One Path to Interpersonal Effectiveness (Part 9 of 10) Whereas all the other skills mentioned so far are about self-regulation, interpersonal effectiveness inherently involves both the self ...

Working the TOM: One Path to Dialectical Thinking (Part 8 of 10) Dialectical thinking is all about letting go of the extremes, learning to think more in the middle, learning to be more flexible with your ...

Sow Your SEEDS: One Path to Emotion Regulation (Part 7 of 10) Whereas distress tolerance refers to short-term coping in the moment, emotion regulation refers to a long-term lifestyle change that will ...

TIP the Balance: One Path to Distress Tolerance (Part 6 of 10) DBT distress tolerance is all about learning to cope in the moment without making it worse. It is about replacing impulsive, addictive, ...

The RAIN Dance: One Path to Mindfulness (Part 5 of 10) Mindfulness, by definition, is always a combination of both awareness and acceptance. The RAIN dance helps clients increase both awareness and acceptance ...

Restoring Balance (Part 4 of 10) Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which was developed by Marsha Linehan, is all about reconciling “dialectical dilemmas” (binary extremes resulting in dysfunction) ...

A Breakdown in Dialectics (Part 3 of 10) This driving metaphor describes what happens to people who have experienced chronic trauma: too much accelerating, too much braking, and loss of social engagement ...

The Two Pedals (Part 2 of 10) Think of the sympathetic nervous system as the accelerator and the parasympathetic nervous system as the brakes. As we drive down the highway, we need both of these functions. ...