Day One of this two-day workshop provides a historical look at the development in our understanding of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), which includes current epidemiological studies and clinical presenting features. The survey leads to a formal description of BPD through the lens of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). The description will be broadened to include a discussion of deficits in emotion regulation, a broad term reflecting the capacity to literally “increase the positive and decrease the negative”. We discuss the origins of this very necessary capacity through the early caregiving environment where key processes necessary for emotional development emerge. The ‘biopsychosocial model’ is described, with particular emphasis on the necessity of emotional validation, and the role modelling of adaptive emotion-management behaviours.
General principals of treatment are described together with the key balancing act present in the therapeutic exchange - the imperative to change with the necessity of acceptance.
Participants will develop an awareness of the organisation and particulars of the core skill modules and will be able to see how a typical skill building session looks and feels like.
Day Two takes a more in-depth focus on the four modules, and the general therapeutic stance taken by a DBT practitioner. Participants will develop their understanding of how “Core Mindfulness” is understood and applied within the DBT framework. As part of this practical approach to learning the skills participants will have an opportunity to see several skills taught and
develop an experiential awareness of several key skills.
Participants will return to the key dialectic inherent in DBT – ‘change versus acceptance’ and will deepen their understanding of emotional validation techniques. Distress Tolerance skills will also be introduced, with specific interest on the crisis survival skills - a key skill-set for individuals at risk of self harm and suicidal behaviours. Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, and Paired muscle relaxation (TIPP) skills will be introduced, which have particular utility for nursing staff and other frontline health practitioners who may work with individuals in emotional crisis