What a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Session Looks Like
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful session, Dr. Judy Hope demonstrates Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) with a patient named Kyle, who struggles with depression and feelings of hopelessness. The session focuses on managing depressive symptoms and preventing future episodes through self-soothing techniques and the concept of 'wise mind,' which balances emotional and logical responses. Dr. Hope introduces practical strategies like engaging in pleasant activities daily and accepting the current experience to foster resilience and navigate through depressive episodes.
Takeaways
- 😀 The session demonstrates an example of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) with Dr. Judy Hope and a patient named Kyle.
- 🤔 Kyle is dealing with depression, feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, and is seeking help to manage these symptoms using DBT.
- 💊 Kyle is on antidepressants and has a history of depressive episodes but has stopped therapy due to a move and is looking for a new therapist.
- 🔄 Kyle discusses the cyclical nature of his depressive symptoms and the impact of his work and pride on his mental state.
- 🧘 Kyle has tried various methods to cope with his feelings, including overeating, exercising, and focusing on a clean, organized environment.
- 🌱 Dr. Hope introduces the concept of self-soothing using the five senses as a quick method to manage distress and prevent escalation into a depressive episode.
- 💡 The importance of not rushing to prevent depressive episodes but accepting their occurrence and having the skills to handle them is emphasized.
- 🧘♂️ Kyle is encouraged to engage his 'wise mind,' a state of mind that combines emotional and logical thinking to make balanced decisions.
- 📝 Dr. Hope provides a list of pleasant activities as a preventive measure and for building an emergency toolkit for Kyle to use when feeling hopeless.
- 🔑 The session highlights the DBT principle of finding balance and not being overly rigid in thinking, which is key to managing depressive symptoms.
- 🌟 Kyle's biggest takeaway is the realization that he needs to work with both his emotional and logical sides, rather than fighting or negotiating with them.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of the session between Dr. Judy Hope and Kyle?
-The main purpose of the session is to explore how Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) can help Kyle manage his depressive symptoms and develop strategies to prevent or cope with depressive episodes.
What is Kyle's current mental health status according to the transcript?
-Kyle mentions that he is currently not experiencing severe symptoms, but he still has feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and self-doubt about his worth and impact, especially in relation to his work.
What does Kyle believe about the origin of his feelings of hopelessness and helplessness?
-Kyle believes that these feelings are hardwired in his brain, possibly due to heredity, similar to how he has Crohn's disease, and not due to lifestyle factors or lack of social interaction.
What strategies has Kyle tried in the past to combat his depressive symptoms?
-Kyle has tried overeating, exercising, and sleeping as subconscious methods to mask his feelings. He also mentioned using medication and therapy as part of his coping mechanisms.
What is the concept of 'wise mind' in DBT as discussed in the session?
-The 'wise mind' in DBT refers to a state of mind that integrates both the emotional and logical aspects of a person, transcending them to make better decisions and find deeper meaning in experiences.
What is the significance of the 'roller coaster' and 'play' analogies used by Dr. Judy Hope?
-The analogies are used to illustrate the different levels of self-awareness and emotional distance one can have from their experiences. It helps to understand that there is a part of oneself that remains intact and can observe and survive even the most painful episodes.
What is the role of 'radical acceptance' in managing depressive episodes as per DBT?
-Radical acceptance is a technique used in DBT to accept the current experience without judgment or resistance, acknowledging that there is a part of oneself that will always survive the episode, which can help in reducing fear and distress.
What is the 'pleasant activities list' and how is it supposed to help Kyle?
-The 'pleasant activities list' contains 250 activities designed to improve positive emotions. Kyle is encouraged to pick one activity from the list to do every day as a preventive measure and to manage depressive symptoms when they arise.
How does Dr. Judy Hope suggest Kyle should approach the inevitable feelings of hopelessness and helplessness?
-Dr. Judy Hope suggests that Kyle should not rush to prevent these feelings but instead practice acceptance and use strategies like self-soothing with the five senses, engaging the wise mind, and doing pleasant activities to manage the moments when these feelings arise.
What is the homework assignment given by Dr. Judy Hope to Kyle at the end of the session?
-The homework assignment is for Kyle to look at the pleasant activities list, pick one activity to practice every day, and circle the ones that work best for him as he experiments with them, with the goal of building an emergency tool kit for when he starts to feel hopeless and helpless again.
Outlines
😔 Introduction to DBT Session
In this introductory paragraph, Kyle, a patient diagnosed with depression since childhood, begins a DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) session with Dr. Judy Hope. Kyle explains his history with depression, including multiple depressive episodes and his current struggle with feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, despite being on antidepressants and having a generally good life situation. He expresses his need for a new therapist and his interest in DBT as a method to manage depressive symptoms. Dr. Hope engages with Kyle's concerns, focusing on his current symptoms and the impact of his depressive episodes on his daily life.
🤔 Exploring Coping Mechanisms
This paragraph delves into Kyle's attempts to manage his depressive symptoms. He discusses various coping mechanisms he has tried, such as overeating, exercising, and sleeping, which he acknowledges may have been subconscious efforts to mask his feelings. Kyle also mentions the importance of medication and staying busy in his life, suggesting that these activities help keep his depressive symptoms at bay. However, he expresses that these methods do not address the root of his feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, which Dr. Hope identifies as a key area to focus on in the therapy session.
🌿 Discussing Self-Soothing Techniques
In this paragraph, Dr. Hope introduces the concept of self-soothing using the five senses as a method to manage immediate feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. She emphasizes the importance of finding quick ways to self-soothe that can be implemented in under a minute. Kyle and Dr. Hope explore different sensory experiences that could potentially soothe Kyle, such as visual images of his dog, looking at real-estate magazines, and the scent of a clean, organized house. This approach aims to provide immediate relief and prevent the escalation of distressing emotions.
💪 Acceptance and Wise Mind Strategies
The focus of this paragraph is on the acceptance of depressive episodes and the introduction of wise mind strategies. Kyle discusses his difficulty in accepting the inevitability of depressive episodes and the intense pain they bring. Dr. Hope uses the analogy of watching a play to illustrate the different levels of self-awareness and separation from the immediate emotional experience. She encourages Kyle to understand that there is a part of him that remains whole and intact, even during the worst episodes, and to use this understanding to foster acceptance and resilience.
🛠 Developing Wise Mind Decisions
Dr. Hope continues to guide Kyle towards developing wise mind decisions during moments of hopelessness and helplessness. She explains that the wise mind is a state where both the emotional and logical aspects of oneself work together to make better decisions. Kyle is encouraged to consider what his wise mind would do in the face of his depressive feelings, rather than letting his emotions or logic dominate his actions. Dr. Hope emphasizes the importance of improving the moment, finding meaning, and making decisions that are not based on immediate emotions or strict logic alone.
📝 Implementing Pleasant Activities
In the final paragraph, Dr. Hope assigns Kyle the task of engaging in pleasant activities as a form of daily practice and prevention. She provides a list of 250 activities and asks Kyle to select one to do each day, with the goal of improving positive emotions and building an emergency toolkit for moments of crisis. The activities range from simple tasks like coloring or taking a bath to more involved actions like reading for fun or spending time with others. The purpose is to help Kyle break down his experience into manageable moments and to practice not seeking a grand solution but instead finding ways to improve the current moment.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
💡Depression
💡Hopelessness
💡Helplessness
💡Self-soothing
💡Fight-or-flight
💡Wise Mind
💡Radical Acceptance
💡Pleasant Activities
💡Emotion Mind and Logical Mind
Highlights
Introduction to a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) session with Dr. Judy Hope.
Patient Kyle discusses his struggle with depression and depressive episodes.
Kyle shares his experience with antidepressants and the discontinuation of therapy due to relocation.
Dr. Hope inquires about current depressive symptoms and their impact on Kyle's life.
Kyle expresses feelings of hopelessness and helplessness despite his current life circumstances.
The discussion of the impact of work and personal life on Kyle's feelings of self-worth.
Kyle's experience with intense depressive episodes and their debilitating effects.
Strategies Kyle has used to cope with depression, including therapy and medication.
Dr. Hope introduces the concept of distress tolerance in DBT.
The importance of self-soothing with the five senses to manage immediate distress.
Kyle's exploration of self-soothing activities that appeal to his senses.
The concept of acceptance in DBT and its role in dealing with depressive episodes.
Kyle's realization of the separation between his true self and depressive feelings.
Dr. Hope explains the principle of wise mind in DBT and its application.
The introduction of a pleasant activities list as a preventive strategy in DBT.
Kyle's assignment to practice a pleasant activity daily and build an emergency toolkit.
The session concludes with Kyle's understanding of the importance of integrating emotion and logic.
Transcripts
[Music]
now that you understand each principle
of DBT it's time to see them in action
in this episode dr. judy hope performs
an example dialectical behavior therapy
session dr. ho I've got no questions
here all right my glasses are real I'll
let you take it away okay well thank you
so much for coming to see me Kyle what
can I help you with today
well my I was diagnosed with depression
at nine years old I have had three major
depressive episodes in my life after
that maybe after the age of 10 or so and
I do take an antidepressant every day
but I stopped going to therapy maybe
three months ago because of a move so I
just need to find a new therapist so I
heard you were really good night circle
I'm really just looking to see how DBT
can help me manage some of my depressive
symptoms and depressive episodes okay so
what types of symptoms are you still
struggling with right now
well it's actually pretty good right now
and it's easy not to have symptoms come
up I think when everything in your life
is pretty good and everything in my life
is pretty good right now so that makes
it easier but there is still feelings of
hopelessness and helplessness that
reoccur
there's also feelings of just not being
enough like I take a lot of pride in my
job at Med circle and what we're doing
and what we're doing for people and and
you know that in other parts of my life
as well I work a lot with animals and
people with animals and that that has a
lot of pride for me attached to it
because I want to help people that way
and I but I still have those ones where
like is this is this am i doing enough
am i making a big enough impact am I am
I really helping or am I just telling
myself
I'm helping and yeah and I think that's
kind of in general yeah so sometimes you
still struggle with for example thinking
whether or not you're valuable
worthwhile enough you connect that
sometimes to the work that you're doing
so obviously when you're doing great and
you feel great about it
everything's awesome but then you make a
mistake or something like that you might
take it harder than the average person
perhaps I don't know if I take mistakes
harder than the average person
I pretty much all make mistakes so for
me to make a mistake that's okay mm-hmm
I just I always want to be putting out
the best that I can do and that's that
is not always possible and so when when
I kind of feel those times are occurring
that's hard for me and on a more
significant scale while it hasn't
happened recently I'd say you know in
the last six months
there are times where it I'm so
depressed you can't you can't get me out
of bed I cannot function it doesn't
matter how much I'm hearing you or
understanding what you're saying it
doesn't change my inability to take care
of myself like I can't take care of
myself I don't eat or I eat too much I
mean my life it just becomes a a
splatter of mess you know until I can
finally dig out of it how do you usually
dig out of it well I go to my therapist
a lot and then you know sometimes we
change medications yeah sometimes it's
just a realization right there though
I've had those times in my life through
therapy I have a realization oh my gosh
that's why and then as soon as I know
that's why I'm like ah well now that
makes sense now you can move on right
yeah that makes sense
um tell me a little bit about the
hopelessness or helplessness that you
feel sometimes well I believe that those
feelings are hardwired in my brain
mm-hmm and I don't I feel like I was
born with that and it sucks mm like I
have Crohn's disease I I didn't
come in contact with some rare bug and
get Crohn's disease
I just got it they think I it was
hereditary right and that's how I relate
it to depression I it's not because I
like don't exercise enough or I don't
believe it's because of these reasons in
order that I'm not social or whatever it
is it's just my brain is wired
differently and its default is to be
helpless and hopeless hmm and I have to
work against the way my brain is set on
a default mm-hmm to not fall in to that
category and so if when that happens
there's no that we I would have canceled
today there's no there's no room for
anything in my life
hmm when that's full okay so I think for
today we're gonna focus on two things I
think one is to try to manage this
hopelessness helplessness that's kind of
long-standing as you mentioned and
clearly when you're having problems
managing your activities of daily living
when you're super depressed that
certainly amplifies the hopelessness and
helplessness because that just kind of
starts to percolate even more like I
can't do anything right so I want to
focus on that a little bit and I think
the other piece I want to focus on is
just developing a prevention plans
because right now you're doing great yep
so it's really about okay how do I sort
of reduce my vulnerability to having
another significant episode and how do I
manage it when I start to see some of
those things creep in mm-hmm so we can
sort of make sure that we get back to
the baseline that I feel more
comfortable at okay so the first thing I
want to talk about is the hopelessness
and helplessness aspect because it is so
long-standing and it's something that
you were saying that you always have to
fight and what have you tried so far to
try to fight that like do you just try
to try to tell yourself to be positive
like what are the things that you've
tried in the in my past I have tried
overeating I've tried exercising
I've tried sleeping and these are all
things that I was probably doing on more
subconscious level to try to mask
whatever I was feeling there even was a
period where I'm like am i grabbing that
wine bottle because I want a glass of
wine or because I'm feeling this way and
that was very alarming to come to a
conclusion of things that have been
successful is there
good old tell me about your father there
from a psychiatrist or a therapist
medication has been wonderful I don't
believe I could live the life I'm living
without it and being busy mm-hmm
is in getting enough sleep are probably
the two biggest things that help me keep
it at bay
I don't feel like I'm addressing it
right right I feel like it's a bay right
yeah cuz you know we drove up here to
film this today and then we're supposed
to get on a plane tomorrow morning and
be gone for 40 we're just constantly
busy busy busy yeah and so that when
you're so busy
you don't have time to be helpless and
hopeless because you're busy right Yeah
right exactly so sometimes maybe that
distraction is keeping it at bay yes but
you don't feel like you've addressed the
root right so I think one of the things
about hopelessness and helplessness that
people find interesting is of course
that we are all preferably agents of our
lives like we want to be able to be
masters of our universe to some degree
and when things feel like they're
starting to slip out of control that can
come up a little bit more often than
other times as you said you know
sometimes things are hardwired you feel
like maybe you are prone to that but I
think it still comes from a very human
need to want to be masters of our
universe in some way none you don't want
to have something happen to you that you
didn't foresee and therefore don't have
an action plan and when there are
challenges that come up when you are
prone to hopelessness and helplessness
that could be your first default is oh
I'm not gonna be able to manage this
sort of like a message that you tell
yourself it's not gonna get better or
here we go again
and even though cognitive behavioral
therapy does work on some of the
modifications of these thoughts what I'd
like to focus more on is your tolerance
of those stressful moments in that time
and using that as a route to get to some
of the underlying issues I get that we
really can't deal with the underlying
issues if we can't get to a baseline in
the moment and what I mean by that is if
you are in fight-or-flight the part of
your brain that actually gets activated
is the primordial parts of your brain so
that's not the frontal lobe that makes
good decisions and manages your mo
effectively that's the part that's just
trying to survive that moment so we have
to find a way to get you out of that
fight-or-flight activation and bring you
back to a baseline where you feel like
you know what there's nothing wrong with
this moment right now therefore I don't
have to activate that fight-or-flight
and that leaves you more room to then
process the deeper issues if that makes
sense it does so with the distress
tolerance there's a couple of ways that
we can work on this one thing when
you're are feeling hopeless and helpless
is to try to improve that moment at that
very time and so a very simple way is
just to self-soothe with your five
senses and this just involves you
ticking off for each of your senses
something that is pleasant for that
sense and being able to commit to using
those in under one minute and I think
that that's really important part of
this which is that when you are starting
to have that hopelessness or
helplessness well up that there's
something that you can do to self-soothe
in under one minute that's simple so
what are something that you can think of
for example that would appeal to you
visually that would make you feel calm
or relaxed what does that involve
something visually yeah like for some
people some people they like to look at
a picture yeah so I really like
aquascaping okay it's underwater
gardening okay so I watched these video
they're more than a minute though I
don't know if that would work because I
these videos are logged but it is very
peaceful and soothing and calming to
watch somebody garden underwater
essentially but that's not that's not
less than it's not a minute it's much
more than that so I would just say
images of my dog yeah great
I've never thought about looking at an
image to handle depression so I don't
know right yeah and I think it really
does show again how simple it can be
yeah just in that moment just to improve
your moment by looking at something
that's happy you know what I love
looking at is um real-estate magazines
yeah and I was looking at one last night
on my coffee table and I thought why
don't I look at this more this is so
yeah
so I could do that for a minute awesome
yeah I've had people tell me things like
they want to look at a clothing catalog
I'm yeah no judgment whatever works for
you right yeah so whatever brings you
that sense of peace let's try it one
more sense like what about like all
factory like things that bring you
senses of relaxation and calm like when
you smell a particular fragrance or any
other kind of thing that would you know
what calms me down so fast uh-huh a
clean organized house if I walk into my
house and it's clean and organized oh
nice yes if it is chaotic and there's
dirty laundry I'm gonna go home too
today
can I go so all factory it's an
environment that's clean organized and
not stressed yeah because if my
environment look stressed then I get
stressed yeah so a sense of cleanliness
anything that would evoke that for you
yeah
sometimes people enjoy like smelling
their
dryer sheett yeah yeah cuz it like
reminds them of a clean house yeah I
would that I would just go why am i
smelling a dryer if I do that I do have
a new detergent called yeah fray I think
that's the best not sponsored by fray
always only by freight detergent so that
scent does call me down okay
what about something that appeals to
your tastes and people like to you know
eat a mint like to a piece of gum like
it tends to calm down a bit like is
there anything like that for you certain
foods no sushi I like sushi
I do love a Pellegrino water yeah
that to me is a when I was broke when I
had no money but I was like I need
something to just make me something
other than pasta and butter yeah I would
buy a bottle of Pellegrino water cuz
it's you know a dollar 20 but yeah the
joy is like ten dollars or 20 cents yeah
I think it's so good absolutely I like
that okay great
so these are just you know examples you
can think some more about it but really
it's all about self soothing with your
five senses for under a minute and
usually people will find that even
utilizing one or two of these things
it'll change their experience in the mo
enough so that they're not engaging
their fight-or-flight and they can take
a little bit more time to be more
concerted about their next step so I
have a question about that because in
most of my experiences with these major
episodes I have been aware that they
were coming on mm-hmm
and so I've actively made decisions to
try to not have them happen mm-hmm and
it never worked
mm-hmm I would go to go see a movie I
would call a friend I would clean my
house I would do all these things and it
it it seemed inevitable yeah
and now if they were to come on again I
would believe that it was inevitable
right I wouldn't believe that those
things would keep it from coming it
might delay it yeah but not keep it from
coming that's what I believe right and I
think part of this is also not rushing
to have to prevent it from coming it's a
weird idea but DBT is really about
accepting the current experience I I
don't think I could ever be in a
position to accept that type of episode
occurring because it is it is the worst
thing that's happened to me and it's I
could start crying right now thinking
about and it's happening three times
it's and my mom died when I was 16 those
depressive episodes are worse than that
day it is it's like being shot with a
gun but you're alive
yeah you're and you have to live right
while you have bullet holes in your body
right and no one sees you bleeding yeah
why do you what are you talking about
there's no bullet holes in you but you
feel like you've been shot yeah so I
don't I I can't I don't understand how I
can write be like well that's gonna
happen right it's not about giving up
though on being able to change the
experience it's just about not being
afraid of it coming because you know you
have the skills you need to deal with it
and it's hard to do that because
obviously they've been so incredibly
painful for you but you are still
sitting here and you survived them yeah
and it's sort of like even in the worst
occurrence I know that I'm gonna emerge
on the other side that is the kind of
acceptance
that would be helpful for us to delve
into a little bit doesn't mean that you
like it nobody's saying that you should
like it or want it to happen or not want
to change the experience once it's here
or once you anticipate it being here
right but it's about understanding that
on the other side you've emerged that
there is a part of you that remains
intact even after these horrible
episodes I do understand that yeah yeah
perhaps my hopelessness is exaggerated a
little bit because even in the worst
moment I understood what it was yes I
knew it was almost like I was separated
like the true version of me was here
yeah and we were on this ride that we
didn't want to be on with the fake
version of me
right so I recognized that it wasn't me
I recognized that it wasn't who I was
and I recognized it was something that I
felt like at the time was happening and
I couldn't control it
but I knew that it would eventually go
away right because I wasn't going to die
yeah I was leave it there I like to use
the analogy - I like your analogy of the
roller coaster and I often use the
analogy of people watching a play and
there's the actors in the play and
sometimes there's horrible things going
on in the storyline and then there's a
narrator who is talking about what's
going on even the bad storylines but
they're a little bit removed because
they're narrating the entire story and
they kind of know the beginning in the
end and then there's the audience
members who are even on another step
more removed because they're watching
all of this unfold but they don't
necessarily have a personal stake in it
mm-hmm and I think that there's all of
these different levels of who we are
there's a level of us that's like
actually the characters experiencing the
pain in the turmoil because the
storyline is horrible and then there's a
narrator who can take a step back and
say okay I'm mindfully observing what's
happening and yeah this is a really sad
story
but I'm not emotionally steeped in it to
the same level of
the pain that the actors themselves
might be experiencing and then if you
back up another level they're sort of
the audience which is the audience will
always be there there's different
audience members for different plays
they're interchangeable but in the end
they've always been a group that will be
there at any show and that particular
piece is the self that has seen you
through all of your pain and all of your
happy times and remains intact and
nothing happens to it that part of you
is whole and understanding that
sometimes can help with distressful
moments that there will be a part of me
that emerges whole and there's a part of
me that feels broken right now but like
you were saying there's these different
aspects of yourself and being able to
separate out sometimes preserves the
part of you that needs to be preserved
at a time I so get that that metaphor
makes perfect sense to me yeah that's
how I feel yeah and it's great because
you've already made that connection and
of course it's like what do you do with
that now and so sometimes we resist
these horrible things from happening
because we know how horrible it is and
there's one thing - until actually say I
can stand it but then there's also what
do you do in the moment when it's
happening right and I think in the
moment when you find yourself struggling
with hopelessness or helplessness the
first thing to do is to spend a little
bit of time under a minute just writing
your mind again okay we're not in the
state of emergency I'm able to handle
this whatever I need to do to reengage
out whether it's ten deep breaths or
self-soothing with the five senses or
whatever I need to do to make sure that
I can put my mind at a state that is not
in fight-or-flight because we don't make
it decisions then and it's hard for us
to engage our wise mind mm-hmm then
after that once you realize that you've
sufficiently gotten to a place of calm
then it's about introducing some of the
deeper level strategies to try to manage
the situation so the first one is wise
mind it's this principle of engaging
both the emotional and logical sides of
you to a wise mind that actually can
sort of transcend all of that is sort of
the 1+1 doesn't equal to it's it's more
than that it's more than the sum of its
parts it's not just logical and emotion
mind together it's
something even better where you can
actually take a step back and say here's
what my emotion mine wants to do here's
what my logical mind wants to do but
when I gather everything together and
also experience that there is a deeper
meaning to all of this and what we're
going through what would that part of my
mind want to do next so when you feel
hopeless or helpless I'm imagining that
your emotion mind is like screaming for
you to run back into bed or do whatever
you need to do know and then maybe
there's your logical mind that's
thinking okay what are the things that
have worked in the past mmm can I apply
any of them now I should apply them now
I should get better why am I not better
why is this coming back maybe it's also
the part that yells at you and your self
criticizes yep so then what would your
wise mind do in that experience
you're asking me huh yes I I don't I
don't know I've never thought about it
that way yeah I've I've only tried to
ignore my emotions and act on my logic
that is truly what I've tried to do yes
when my emotions like just get back in
bed I'm like I don't really I really
shouldn't do that I should do this but I
don't want to do that and I probably
just end up getting in bed anyway yep
because that's the emotion part is so
strong in those moments I've never I
don't know I don't know how to answer
that question yeah and so emotion and
logical might often fight each other
it's that dialectic that you're talking
about the emotion might say I want to
get back into bed and your logical mind
say you lazy bum you're not getting back
into bed you know that's gonna make it
worse why don't you do something
different for a change right to try to
motivate yourself to get out of this and
it doesn't work because you're forcing
them to compete for it for the next step
and it's really about bringing them
together acknowledging that they'll do
that yeah well and I think that's really
where DBT comes in is by teaching you
the specific strategies to engage your
wise mind so we talked about one of them
already which is sort of this idea of
radical acceptance how do we accept that
moment knowing that there's a part of
you that's always going to survive it
that is one of the techniques that I
think I can do that is one of the
techniques that your wise mind can use
another technique is to try to improve
your positive emotions in that moment so
I'm gonna give you at the end of our
session today a pleasant activities list
there's 250 activities on this list and
all I want you to commit to is to pick
one of those to do every single day as a
means of prevention but also circling
the ones that tend to work the best for
you as you start to experiment with them
that you know can give you a more
positive experience in that particular
moment and some of these activities are
so quick you can do them in like two
minutes and that is another wise mind
decision so it's not about I can't go to
bed or if I go to bed that means I'm
lazy beating yourself up but it's more
about what if I get in bed for half an
hour but while I'm in bed I can do one
of these pleasant activities and that is
a wise mind decision for that moment and
then after the 30-minute passes you do
the next thing and the next thing so
that you're really encountering each
moment as it's happening as opposed to I
need a grand way to solve this problem
yeah it's worse I'm always looking for
the grand way yeah yeah and I think that
is the logical mind the logical mind is
saying you need the grand way you need
to do something right now to fix this
once and for all
mm-hm and the wise mind would say let's
improve the moment let's find meaning in
what's going on and you'll find that
over time the more that you're able to
sort of break down your experience in
those pieces the less the hopelessness
and helplessness will scare you yeah and
that's really yes sort of the core I get
that all of that I sososo understand
that yeah can you give an example of one
of these activities yeah they're like
coloring for example yeah or taking a
bath yeah or cleaning your room yeah
folding your laundry yeah I mean it's
it's things that are so so simple
there's some you know bigger ones as
well but a lot of them you can do on
your own and kind of at any time and
some of them will also involve other
people it might be reading a magazine
reading a book for fun all these
different types of things that maybe you
haven't done just considerably for that
purpose once in a while I'm seen in a
self
yeah but it is a wise mine strategy to
not be so black-and-white in your
thinking in those hopeless and
helplessness moments it's not about if I
go to bed then I've just wrecked
everything it's like how about you go to
bed for 30 minutes and then after that
first 30 minute passes let's see what to
do next
it's that loosening of you have to have
a solution yeah I need to practice
Oh time yes I know we're just kind of
like starting to you know peel back the
layers obviously but I think my homework
assignment for you first and foremost is
to take a look at these pleasant
activities and to pick one to practice
every day and then as you start to
experiment with them to circle the ones
that work the best for you and we're
gonna start to build your emergency tool
kit well let me start feeling hopeless
and help us again this is good awesome
you delivered knowing that I stepped
into this without any preparation it was
great it was great that it made sense
and my biggest takeaway is for sure I've
spent my life fighting my emotional side
yeah and negotiating with my logical
side right when I really need to be
making them work together yeah to have
the what it's both valuable yeah I love
it
alright well we'll in there and go to
our next episode
Yeah right now
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