Introduction to RO DBT skills classes
Feel free to skip this video if you have already done an RO DBT skills class before.
Radically Open Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (RO DBT)….
is an evidence-based treatment for a range of presentations related to overcontrol (OC). It was originally designed to treat treatment- resistant depression, anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive conditions but over time we have found more evidence for other presentations.
Teaches 3 things.
- Dialectics
- Radical Openness
- Self-enquiry
What is overcontrol?
When inhibitory control can not be flexibly applied. That is, when we try to apply self-control in all situations. It is a way of coping that has developed from a combination of nature and nurture.
Over time, it has made us more sensitive to threat, less sensitive to rewards (we tend to brush those off quite easily), reinforce control as important and become more detail focused (rather than see the bigger picture when needed).
Overcontrol can have many benefits including allowing us to delay gratification, value rules and be fore detail focused at our work and study. BUT maladaptive overcontrol also leads to problems with:
- low receptivity and openness
- less flexible control
- pervasive inhibited emotional expression and low emotional awareness
- low social connectedness.
In other words, it makes use more rigid to rules and expectations and has made it less likely for us to develop deep meaningful relationships.
Psychological health
- Receptivity and openness
- Flexible control
- Intimacy and connectedness with at least one other person
Links:
- Research on RO DBT: https://www.radicallyopen.net/research-on-ro-dbt.html
- App for RO DBT practice: https://www.radicallyopen.net/the-ro-dbt-diary-card-and-skills-app.html