The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation & ... (A New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook)

So if you are not willing to be honest with yourself and put in the work don't waste your money. If you want change understanding and control of self spend the money , this is not a quick read its a long to do list for self its a journey that you live daily.... good luck , it helped me

I really wanted to like this book, but instead, I found it rather frustrating. I was looking specifically for a book that would teach me DBT (dialectical behavioral therapy) skills to deal with my anxiety and my mental health. Unfortunately, this book is much more focused on traditional CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) skills and similar traditional anxiety-focused therapy tools. It has very little to do with DBT or DBT techniques, which are quite specific and very different.In real DBT, there is a multi-pronged approach, focusing on a balance between acceptance and change. True DBT places a heavy emphasis on a technique called 'radical acceptance', as well as mindfulness, and pairs that with distress tolerance skills, self-soothing skills, emotional regulation skills, and learning new ways of dealing with people.In a 160 page book, these skills, which are quite hard to learn, take up on 30 pages. The rest of the book is, frankly, focused on explaining traditional CBT skills, such as writing down 'hot thoughts' that one then changes, or explaining the different kinds of anxiety disorders (a big portion of this book). There is also an emphasis on traditional anxiety therapy techniques like stress management.The book is broken down this way:1. What anxiety disorders are like, in general.2. What CBT therapy is, in general.3 and 4. Actual DBT skills, only 30 pages, only very brief and unspecific, paired with more general skills like 'mindfulness'.5 and 6. Stress and worry, how to cope with these using traditional anxiety therapy (NOT DBT)7. Flashbacks and PTSD type stuff8. Panic Attacks9. OCD10. Social AnxietyI think this book is probably most useful as a library book for someone who has recently been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and wants a short, layman's explanation of what Social Anxiety is or whatever. Unfortunately, rather than billing itself as such, it's trying to market the DBT aspect, and, look, the explanations of what DBT is and how to use DBT are simply not well written or useful enough to put into practice.If you were like me, looking for a book to learn actual DBT techniques, the DBT-specific workbook by McKay, Wood, Brantley is much MUCH better. That book takes multiple chapters to explain radical acceptance and how to implement it, rather than, y'know, a single page, because radical acceptance is brutally difficult and yet incredibly important. Distress tolerance, dealing with people, creating coping plans, self-soothing, balancing acceptance and change, the McKay/Wood/Bantley book has all of the real DBT skills to help a person cope. This book, I'm sorry to say, just does not. It takes more than 30 pages to explain how to use Lindehan's work. It just does.

I rounded up my score to 4, but I'd have rated it a 3.5. I am someone who is very successful and functional given my age, but I had two years of unfortunate events, which brought about an addiction to work, isolation and loss of self-image. I am very very rational, a realist and pragmatic and I find DBT to be a part of a solution, but not the single solution soap-boxed by mental health professionals.In fact, I found the most interesting information in the later chapters. Beginning with the concept of primary, and secondary emotions (and not mentioned, but precursor emotions or situations). Next, this led into chapters about interpersonal relationships and there I began to see the value of some of the activities, but again, they seem preachy and brainwashed. If you are an outlier, the moment taught are just to help you fit in and won't correct any issues about self satisfaction - although they may improve that indirectly.Overall,I would say this is a good book, but the flow or layout needs work if it is to be wholesale recommended. I diligently tried everything though assisted self-sufficient and I practice the activities almost daily; despite working 70-80 hours a week. It is hard work, but there is one thing I wonder about - does DBT actually work, or is it the brains ability to remove/lessen traumatic events and the success of DBT is only an indirect correlation in some cases. It works for me in some degree, but for not the reasons advertised.Book was easy to read as well. But likely should be accompanied by professional assistance, and medication if needed.

I am so grateful for this workbook which has made it so much easier to go over all the most important parts of DBT which has been proven to be most effective in treating many mental health problems as well as substance use or addiction. A reworking absolutely necessary for my mind.

This is a great book for clients. I have had clients purchase it and we read it together and work on the skills.

Lots of skills inside, very helpful

I'm always wary of reviewing products that are linked to healthcare, especially if it's mental health, but I've had some real benefit from this book, so thought I would write a review. It should be noted that this review is based on my own personal experience, rather than any professional, qualified opinion.This book begins by tackling how to handle overwhelming emotions before it dives into the deeper issues, which I found was a really great approach. After all, if my house is on fire, I'm going to need to put the fire out before I look for the match that started the fire! Unfortunately, every professional counsellor takes the opposite approach and to be honest, it really wasn't working for me and made me worse. Now that I've been working through this book, it's given me some of the tools I need to cope with my bad days so that I can have less of them and work through what's causing the problem on the good days.I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is having difficulty coping with overwhelming feelings, especially if you have some delays in seeing a healthcare professional, or finding the right one for you.

What I loved most about this book was how it was organized. The structure of the book: dealing with distress, mindfulness, emotion regulation, and interpersonal skills, along with basic and advanced subsections, really helped me understand DBT.My favorite parts in this workbook were the exercises on observing your emotions, especially in representing these emotions with metaphors. This mindfulness technique helped me understand some deep, dark things inside. The metaphor-making activities were illuminating and insightful.In addition, the many case examples made the abstract concepts more understandable, as well as more convincing.I also appreciated the long lists of possible ideas for self-soothing, which are very helpful if you have no idea how to handle powerful, wildfire emotions.Lastly, I liked how the language was clear, simple, and emotional.

I bought this book about 2 months ago, as I was dealing with a lot of overwhelming emotions that made my life a struggle. My boyfriend had just decided to take some time apart since my outbursts and destructive behaviours (especially taking out my painful feelings on him) were making our relationship suffer so badly that separation seemed to be the only solution for the sake of his own sanity. I could just not bare the idea of loosing him because of borderline personality disorder and I thought I must do something about my behaviours.Then, I found this book and read a lot of positive comments about it. I decided to give it a try... and certainly don't regret it now!From the very beginning, I felt understood by the authors. Everything is just so clear and easy to understand. This is truly a step-by-step guide to take you from beginner to master in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. I've only gone through the first chapter out of 10, and I already see positive results.I would recommend this book to anyone who has a hard time dealing with emotions and who have a real desire to change. The only secret to make this book as effective as it is meant to be is to simply take your time and make sure you have practiced and mastered as many skills as possible in the "basic skills" chapters before going for the "advanced skills" ones.And to anyone who reads this comment: there's is hope. All it takes is a lot of courage, and miracles will happen.Good luck!

Awesome book!!Diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder 2 years ago. I am fortunate to see my CPN every week, and because i’ve been so poorly with my Personality switches I get to see my psychiatrist regularly.I have put a lot of hard work in, trying to move forward. I live on a small Scottish island,so DBT doesn’t happen as there are no staff/facilities to undertake the role. That is why this book is helping me. Dipping in to it when i’m well, completely the work inside - kind of like homework, but with no admission day pressure. I share the work I do, and work i’m about to begin with my CPN.This book won’t be for everyone, but it is helping me tremendously.