WARNING: If you or someone you care about is experiencing a mental health crisis and/or suicidal ideation, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available via call, text, chat, and with resources for Deaf/HoH folks. Please use discretion in listening to this episode.

I currently do want to live AND there are times when I don't. I know that in those times, most of the things that people say in an attempt to be helpful actually ends up making things worse. So I thought it might be useful to have the version of myself who wants to live write a letter to the version of myself who doesn't, and include all the things that I think would actually be validating, useful, and hope-giving when I'm at my lowest. This episode includes the entirety of that letter.

Transcript of the letter

Instagram post (caption): @CharlieMerril

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More resources are available at https://therapize.joygerhard.com/

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Interested in DBT and want to hear about it from the patient's side instead of the therapist's side? You're in luck! I've done a variety of DBT skills groups and individual therapy, and have finally created an episode all about: what DBT is, who created it, what various DBT programs are like, and an overview of what skills are covered in the skills training manual. I also go over what I love about DBT and where it's gaps are.

DBT references:

DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets – online pdf version;

DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets – buy the manual from a Black-owned book store!

Other resources used in this episode:

NY Times article - Expert on Mental Illness Reveals Her Own Fight by Benedict Carey;

Wikipedia article - Marsha Linehan;

Wikipedia article - Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT);

Wikipedia article - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT);

Book - Building a Life Worth Living: A Memoir by Marsha Linehan

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More resources are available at https://therapize.joygerhard.com/

Please rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen.

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok

Like what you hear? Support me and this podcast on Patreon.

My sister Ruth joins me for the second part of our conversation around accepting that she hurts others and others hurt her. We identified where she’s out of acceptance in episode 49, so in this episode we’re practicing acceptance of those things, step by step. It’s a lengthy process but we get faster as we go and she moves closer to accepting by the end of the episode!

DBT references:

DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets – online pdf version;

DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets – buy the manual from a Black-owned book store!

DBT handouts used in this episode:

Mindfulness Handout 5 – Taking Hold of Your Mind: “How” Skills

• Non-judgmentally;

Emotion Regulation Handout 19 – Build Mastery and Cope Ahead

• Cope Ahead of Time with Difficult Situations;

Distress Tolerance Handout 9 – Improving the Moment;

Distress Tolerance Handout 11 – Radical Acceptance;

Distress Tolerance Handout 11A – Radical Acceptance: Factors That Interfere;

Distress Tolerance Handout 11B – Practicing Radical Acceptance Step by Step

Distress Tolerance Handout 14 – Half-Smiling and Willing Hands

Distress Tolerance Worksheet 9 – Radical Acceptance

Other resources used in this episode:

Ep 29 – annoyance when skills work

The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu;

The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power by Katherine Morgan Schafler;

Instagram account: Christabel Mintah-Galloway on relational repair:

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More resources are available at https://therapize.joygerhard.com/

Please rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen.

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok

Like what you hear? Support me and this podcast on Patreon.