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DBT Treatment Developer Dr. Marsha Linehan Releases New Edition of Bestselling Skills Manual
Skills are aimed at helping individuals build lives that they themselves will experience as worth living. DBT Treatment Developer Dr. Marsha Linehan Releases New Edition of Bestselling Skills Manual The second edition of the Dialectical Behavior Therapy® Skills Training Manual adds more than 20 new skills for use with both clinical and non-clinical populations. Dr. Marsha M. Linehan has distilled more than two decades of research into this two-part volume designed for use inside and outside the therapy room. October 20, 2014, marks the publication date of the long-awaited second edition of the Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT®) Skills Training Manual. The bestselling, first edition of Dr. Marsha Linehan’s DBT® Skills…
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Xanax + Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) = Serious Dyscontrol
Those receiving alprazolam (Xanax) had an increase in the severity of the episodes of serious dyscontrol. Pharmacotherapy of Borderline Personality Disorder Alprazolam, Carbamazepine, Trifluoperazine, and Tranylcypromine Rex William Cowdry, MD; David L. Gardner, MD Sixteen female outpatients with borderline personality disorder and prominent behavioral dyscontrol, but without a current episode of major depression, were studied in a doubleblind, crossover trial of placebo and the following four active medications: alprazolam (average dose, 4.7 mg/d); carbamazepine (average dose, 820 mg/d); trifluoperazine hydrochloride (average dose, 7.8 mg/d); and tranylcypromine sulfate (average dose, 40 mg/d). Each trial was designed to last six weeks. Tranylcypromine and carbamazepine trials had the highest completion rates. Physicians rated…
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Family Dynamics Around the Holiday Table
The holidays are often thought of as a time of warmth and happiness, family gathered around the table creating wonderful family memories. But for many of us, it can also be a time of angst and anxiety. (link to the article) There are many reasons you may feel stress. Perhaps you are a student struggling with school and are afraid of criticism from your family. You may be unemployed and don’t want to face questions about your job search or finances. Maybe you’ve put on or lost “too much” weight this year and are feeling self conscious. If you have been struggling with depression, mood swings or anxiety, you may…
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Ask a Psychiatrist: How Does Silver Linings Playbook Handle Mental Illness?
Ask a Psychiatrist: How Does Silver Linings Playbook Handle Mental Illness? By Gwynne Watkins It’s to be expected that one (or both) of a romantic comedy’s protagonists will go a little crazy in some way. Silver Linings Playbook takes things a step further: Bradley Cooper’s character, Pat, is newly released from a mental hospital, and his romantic foil Tiffany (played by Jennifer Lawrence) is battling her own demons. Neither, however, has the typical Hollywood version of mental illness, i.e. “My second personality is a prostitute with a Cockney accent!” Pat’s bipolar disorder and Tiffany’s unnamed condition manifest themselves in ways that are realistically, even heartbreakingly mundane; Tiffany texts relative strangers…
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How I escaped suicidal depression
I had two alternatives. One was to kill myself, to end my struggle. The other was to find something rigorous and unorthodox to conquer this depression. How I escaped suicidal depression ‘I had two alternatives. One was to kill myself.’ By Leslie Contreras Schwartz, special to the Houston Chronicle November 17, 2014 “You will mostly likely have several suicide attempts in the future,” the psychiatrist said, sitting across from me in carefully crossed ankles you may need to use an ankle brace amazon. “And you will have severe clinical depression the rest of your life.” With a closed-lip smile, she closed my enormous patient file on her lap. “You must…
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An important comment from a reader about safety and BPD
Here’s a comment from one of my readers regarding safety and BPD. I was planning on writing about this at some point because the core issue seems to be safety and a sense of well being. People suffering from borderline personality disorder, through no fault of their own, have no sense of safety within themselves, so are on a constant search for any form of safety from external sources. Unfortunately, and ironically, the ‘safety’ they have experienced in the past has been found in crises.They therefore feel ‘comfortable’ and safe in the midst of a crisis, whether this is in a relationship setting or any other. So they rebound continually…