Reddit reviews You Untangled: A DBT Skills Workbook, Practical Tools To Manage Your Emotions And Improve Your Life (Skills Workbooks)

Group therapy went well. I picked up my copy of You Untangled, which was written by my therapist. We are working on being less judgmental. I am supposed to list judgments I make and how frequently I make them. Then I'm supposed to reword them to be less judgmental and more factual. Should be a good exercise for me, as I've been trying to let go of that.

Totally excited for Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension tonight at Alamo Drafthouse. It has been my favorite movie since I was little, but I never dreamed I would get to see it in the theater. Should be a nice night out with the wife. A little food, a movie. Normal stuff. I'd like to do more normal stuff.

The therapist, Amy Tibbits, who runs the clinic I visit, The Lilac Center, wrote a book to help folks learn the skills of DBT: You Untangled.

My personal therapist, Anna Saviano, co-wrote a second workbook with Amy to help heal the trauma they have lived: You Empowered.

Anna also has me practicing meditation and listening to binaural beats to supplement the EMDR she does with me in session.

I also read The Expanded Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training Manual by Lane Pederson before I met Anna and I feel it has given me an excellent foundation to build upon.

DBT Skills Training Manual by Marsha Linehan is not a book I've read personally. However, Linehan is who originally developed DBT and the link says it comes with online access to the worksheets and handouts. That looks to me like another excellent potential resource "straight from the horses mouth" if you will.

I am willing to be a chat/support buddy and can share what I've learned and continue to learn from my sessions as it pertains to DBT.

Good luck. :)

Edit to add: A book suggested by Anna that took me nearly a year to read because it was difficult for me is Healing The Shame That Binds You by John Bradshaw.

Further edit: My husband reminded me that you may well be able to get the books by Linehan, Pederson and Bradshaw at your local library.

No offense taken, I should be a cautionary tale. Long-term benzodiazepine use is linked to severe depression and anxiety. Over the last couple of years my anxiety has been worse than it's ever been in my life. I am so anxious that it is difficult for me to leave the house, talk to people, and even hold down a 15 hour a week job. I am mostly supported by my mother and partner, and am currently trying to get disability. I am very suicidal and think about suicide constantly. This is coming from someone who was accepted into Harvard at 20, but didn't go over a guy, and that's when my life really went downhill.

However, my situation is probably a lot different from yours. Have you been diagnosed with any type of mental illness? From what I've read, I figure you haven't, but I have Borderline Personality Disorder, which in itself is already debilitating. On top of that, research shows that long-term benzo use is harmful to people with BPD and the suicide rate goes way up.

My doctor has ascribed my recent surge in anxiety to my benzo use. He is kind of a hypocrite, however, because he is the one that started prescribing me massive dosages of benzos about six years ago. Every now and then he'll take my dosage down a little, but I usually whine and cry until he brings it back up again. When I tried to commit suicide though, he cut my Valium script in half.

I'm not trying to sound like some tragic case. I don't totally hate my life, but I do feel pretty certain that my anxiety increasing tenfold (it's always been bad, but not like this) is because of the benzos. I get really sick if I don't take any benzos for two days, yet at the same time they don't even really relax me anymore. I have to take a massive amount to actually feel anything, and that's stupid because then I won't have any left and I'll go through withdrawals. I remember back in the day when I took my first Xanax at 1mg. It made me pass out in a restaurant with my head straight in my food. Those were days....

However, it sounds like you are much more aware of benzos and the dangers associated with them than I was, and so is your mom. There are a LOT of people who take benzos responsibly and live normal, happy lives. (The BPD is also a lot to blame for my issues, not just the benzos). My mom is an example of that. For some reason her general practitioner gives her a ton of benzos every month, but she is not even close to an addict. She takes .5mg of Xanax sometimes to help her sleep or when she in a crowded place like a grocery store. She sends the rest to me (I know, not good that she's enabling, but I beg when I run out before my refill is ready). There are literally millions of people who use benzos responsibly, but the danger is that you never know how you will react to them. Since they are highly addictive, all thoughts about responsibility and not wanting to get hooked can be thrown out the window if you find out that all of your problems can kind of drift away for awhile by taking a little pill. Very responsible people can become addicted to addictive drugs.

As far as tapering off, I'm planning on going to rehab within the next year. I'm just trying to plan around it and get the money for it, because it's extremely expensive. Unfortunately, rehab centers tend to be state run and horrible, or privately run and wonderful but outrageously expensive.

Benzos should always be a last resort. As far as other methods, I highly recommend counseling. I know you said it's too expensive, but there are usually ways you can find very cheap/free counseling in your area. I used to even see a Ph.D who was so kind - she had a sliding scale and only charged me $40 for a 1 hour session. I'm sure if you look hard enough you can definitely find something.

Other good ways to help with anxiety - mindfulness skills (like DBT), exercise, a good diet. I have a trick I learned from reading - hand lotion. I use really nice hand lotions when I start to freak out because the sensation helps "ground" me. It sounds weird, but it honestly sometimes helps me more than medication.

I know that you don't have BPD, but I highly recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/You-Untangled-Workbook-Practical-Workbooks/dp/0989802108/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464136347&sr=1-3-fkmr0&keywords=bpd+untangled

It actually helped me a LOT when I was applying myself and really trying to get better. It's filled with ways to help manage and regulate your emotions, and like I said, you do not need to have BPD at all to get help from it. Mindfulness is the core of relieving your anxiety. I believe this book can help anyone a lot with extreme anxiety.

If you do decide to give benzos a chance, I would have your mother dispense the pills to you as needed. My mother did that for awhile last year when I was visiting her, and that actually reduced my intake by a lot. My partner doesn't really have the dedication of doing that though, so I'm in full control of them here, which isn't really good.

Anyway, I hope some of this helped. Feel free to ask anything else!

EDIT: As far as your question on how much to take at first, 2.5mg of Valium (half a pill) sounds like a good starting dose. You could even try a little less. It's usually quite potent the first time you take it, especially if you're small like me.

This book is amazing! Highly recommend:

http://www.amazon.com/You-Untangled-Workbook-Practical-Workbooks/dp/0989802108