A Therapist Takes Her Own Advice

One of our missions in creating this podcast is to reduce the stigma of mental illness. On todays episode, I speak with David Wilson-Burns, a friend of mine who was diagnosed with bipolar I disorder in his 30s. He speaks openly about the ups and downs of his mental health journey in the hopes that other's will find comfort and support from his experiences.
David Wilson-Burns is a writer, software engineer, and musician living in Norman, Oklahoma, a college town in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan area. He has a degree in Vocal Music Education from the University of Oklahoma and has published works of fiction, personal essays, and poetry. He writes a blog called My Wife Says I’m Complicated about topics ranging from computer programming, spirituality, personal life, mental illness, fiction, travel, and a satirical small-town newspaper named The Puddlegulch Post; although, most have been set to private while he undergoes treatment for blogaholism at the Over-Sharer’s Recovery Center in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

Thanks so much for joining me today for A Therapist Takes Her Own Advice. Remember that the information shared here is not a replacement for treatment with a licensed professional. If you need support please reach out. Call your doctor, your insurance company or contact me. Go to my website, rebekahshackney.com and send me aa message through my contact page. And if you have enjoyed what you’ve heard here, please subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

To learn more about DBT group therapy with Rebekah Shackney LCSW, go to https://rebekahshackney.com/groups

Mindfulness is a word that you hear thrown around a lot these days, but is often misunderstood. It does everything from decrease depression to improve relationships to making pain more manageable... but how? This season of ATTHO, going is all about demystifying mindfulness, what is it? How is it helpful? And how exactly do you use it in your daily life? I’ll break it down into manageable steps and I’ll interview people with interesting perspectives on mindfulness. Hopefully along the way we can all become more mindful.

I spend my days teaching my clients mindfulness skills, and trying to stay mindful myself but mindfulness is an ever- evolving practice and like everyone else, I’m trying to do better. This is ATTHA. In today’s episode David and I discuss how mindfulness is defined from a DBT perspective.
What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose to the present moment. To mindfully experience your internal world you notice thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. To mindfully experiencing the external world use your five senses, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Notice without judgment and without criticism or pushing away.

How does mindfulness help?

1. Mindfulness changes the experience of pain, emotional as well as physical by teaching acceptance of uncomfortable sensations and stimulating the relaxation response.

2. Mindfulness gets you out of your head and into your life. So much suffering is caused by thoughts, judgments and interpretations playing on repeat without awareness. Mindfulness helps reduce repetitive thinking.

3. Mindfulness helps increase compassion for self and others.

What is mindfulness practice?

Mindfulness can be practiced many ways. Mindfulness can be practiced with meditation. You can sit and notice your breath or the sensations in your body. Mindfulness can be practiced in everyday life. You can eat mindfully, you can brush your teeth mindfully or wash the dishes mindfully. Mindfulness practice with movement. Yoga, martial arts, Tai Chi, dancing, taking a nature walk are all excellent mindfulness activities.

PRACTICE IDEAS:

Connecting to Wise Mind

There are a number of different activities or exercises that help to connect you to wise mind. One of my favorites is closing your eyes and breathing and asking wise mind a question. This works when you’ve got a decision to make. Start your own business or take that job? Remain in a relationship or breakup? Stay or move? Whatever the question is, you can close your eyes, focus on your breath and imagine accessing the center of wise mind just sitting and calmly breathing. When you are relaxed and calm ask the question and allow the answer to come into your consciousness. You may have to do this exercise a few times, but I’ve found it to be an effective practice when there’s a question to be answered.

Notice yourself in the 3 States of mind

Another more basic practice is to notice yourself in different states of mind. Notice when you're in reasonable mind, emotion mind and wise mind.Think about how it feels and how do you behave in each state of mind.

If you connected with what you read here and you want to work with me, send me a message through my contact page.

To learn more about DBT group therapy with Rebekah Shackney LCSW, go to https://rebekahshackney.com/groups

This episode offers a paced breathing guided meditation to help reduce emotional pain quickly and allow you to get through a difficult moment without making the situation worse.
When emotional arousal is high the body goes into fight or flight mode. The adrenaline pumps and blood flows to the extremities to prepare the body to face danger. This process works well if you're in real danger, but it's uncomfortable and can lead to problems when you're not. Paced breathing is a Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skill that rapidly sends a message to your mind and body to stop the fight or flight process and move into rest and digest by triggering your parasympathetic nervous system. This skill is DBT TIPP Skill and used as a first line of defense when emotional intensity is at it's highest. Other skills in the category are
Temperature — By placing icepacks on your face and neck or dunking your face in a bowl of ice (not lower than 50 degrees), you can rapidly lessen emotional intensity. Hold your breath and put your face in the ice-water for 30-60 seconds. This skill shouldn't be attempted if you have a heart condition.

Intense exercise – Intense cardio exercise for 15-20 minutes can decrease intense emotions for up to an hour. Go for a run or run in place, punch a punching bag or pillow, or do a You Tube workout. Here are a couple to try: 20 minute Home HIIT Workout and The Fitness Marshall (Short fun dance workouts, do 2-3 for optimal effect).

Paced breathing – This breathing exercise triggers the parasympathetic nervous system by slowing the breath and making the inhale shorter than the exhale. In this meditation, we breathed in for 4 and out for 6.

Paired muscle relaxation – In this exercise you tense and relax one muscle group at a time. When you first tense muscles before relaxing them, your muscles release more deeply than with relaxing alone. This was demonstrated on a previous episode of A Therapist Takes Her Own Advice.
TIPP Skills work quickly and easily to reduce emotional intensity. However, the effects are not often long lasting. If you are not read to face your day after completing your TIPP Skill, try another, or try another skills. Self-soothe by triggering the 5 senses. I recommend creating a crisis survival kit for this purpose. You can also distract with activity: playing video games, doing a puzzle, walking your dog, calling a friend, watching TV or YouTube, listening to music, baking a cake, taking a shower, going for a drive. Do not engage with the source of your emotional intensity until you're in a wise mind place.

Thanks so much for your support of A Therapist Takes Her Own Advice. If you connected with what you heard here, and you want to work with me, go to my website, rebekahshackney.com and send a message through my contact page. And if you have enjoyed what you’ve heard here, please subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

To learn more about DBT group therapy with Rebekah Shackney LCSW, go to https://rebekahshackney.com/groups

This new series of podcast parent tips aims to help you reduce conflict and better connect with your teen. In the first episode, learn to stop conversations from becoming fights with the DBT STOP Skill.
The STOP Skill can help you Stop a conflict in its tracks by encouraging you to

• Stop
• Take a Step Back
• Observe
• Proceed Mindfully

The Stop Skill is just one of the many DBT Skills I teach my clients to help them communicate more effectively and reduce suffering for both themselves and their teens.
DBT is Dialectical Behavior Therapy, a model of therapy created by Dr. Marsha Linehan, that has been proven effective at helping people learn to tolerate stress, regulate emotions, improve communication and create a happier more contented life.

Thanks so much for your support of A Therapist Takes Her Own Advice. If you connected with what you heard here, and you want to work with me, go to my website, rebekahshackney.com and send a message through my contact page. And if you have enjoyed what you’ve heard here, please subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

To learn more about DBT group therapy with Rebekah Shackney LCSW, go to https://rebekahshackney.com/groups

In the last episode I told a story illustrating the DBT concept of the three states of mind, emotion mind, reasonable mind and wise mind. In this episode, I offer a guided meditation that will help you access wise mind when you need to make an important decision.
As a reminder, wise mind is when you are thinking and behaving wisely. Seeing things as they are. Wise mind is in alignment with values and goals where you can access both reason and emotion. When you in wise mind you are moving through the world mindfully. Seeing reality as it is and making decisions make sense and feel right. We all have a wise mind, and we just need to learn to access it and listen to it.
Thanks so much for your support of A Therapist Takes Her Own Advice. If you connected with what you heard here, and you want to work with me, go to my website, rebekahshackney.com and send a message through my contact page. And if you have enjoyed what you’ve heard here, please subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

To learn more about DBT group therapy with Rebekah Shackney LCSW, go to https://rebekahshackney.com/groups

To learn more about DBT group therapy with Rebekah Shackney LCSW, go to https://rebekahshackney.com/groups