In our last episode of the Therapists in the Wild podcast, we're coming full circle: dialectics was the topic of our first ever episode, and now we're wrapping it up two years later by letting our listeners in on how we have used a dialectical frame to face this ending head on. We review the DBT skills we used to lean into our discomfort, to have difficult conversations that have deepened our relationship, and ultimately, to radically accept this change in a way that felt true to ourselves,...

This month's episode is a re-release of an episode introducing one of our favorite DBT skills: Radical Acceptance (Episode 23). We hope you enjoy and look forward to being back next month for the final episode of Season 2!  *You can find us on Instagram and Facebook @TherapistsInTheWild, and Twitter @TherapistsWild. If you'd like to support TITW, we would be very grateful for donations of any amount you feel comfortable via Venmo @MollyStDenis. If a donation is not possible at this time, you...

"Burnout" has become a buzzword since the start of the pandemic, for good reason. Many of us are feeling burnt out, in many areas of life, and could benefit from using DBT skills to cope.  In this episode, Molly and Liza start by defining burnout (i.e. chronic depletion, apathy, a feeling of ineffectiveness no matter how hard you work). We then identify factors that typically lead to burnout, like feeling that your day-to-day lacks meaning or that you lack control over your daily decisions....

Happy New Year, TITW listeners! As we head into the new year, we're reflecting on the values we want to prioritize and how we can commit to moving toward those values. Since deepening relationships and creating new ones has been on our minds lately, we decided to do an episode on vulnerability. Vulnerability can be defined as "the practice of taking emotional risks even when the outcome is uncertain." We start out by discussing certain forms of anxiety that interfere with opening up even to...

This month on TITW, we're practicing self-compassion. Liza and Molly have been studying the work of Dr. Kristin Neff, a psychologist and researcher who breaks down the practice of self-compassion into concrete steps. We've noticed a lot of overlap between Dr. Neff's work and DBT skills, and we discuss the similarities in this episode.  We start by defining self-compassion and how it's all about being a friend to yourself. We then get into the barriers of practicing self-compassion (i.e. the...

This month on TITW, Molly teaches Liza and our listeners concepts from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), another "third wave" cognitive behavioral treatment that both overlaps with and differs from DBT.  Molly has been practicing ACT at her therapy practice, and Liza... needs to brush up on her skills! First, Molly walks us through the six core processes of ACT, including "Cognitive Defusion," which is the process of watching thoughts come and go rather than getting caught up or...

This month on TITW, Liza and Molly share their personal experiences with procrastination (Molly) and, on the other side of the dialectic, hyper-productivity (Liza). We believe that procrastination and hyper-productivity are opposite responses that function to avoid similar feelings of anxiety.  We define procrastination as knowing a task needs to get done and choosing to do something else instead. Hyper-productivity is a term we invented based off of Liza's experience of feeling the urge to...

This month on TITW, we are taking a break from discussions about skills to have an exploratory conversation about Buddhist philosophy, which inspired the practice of DBT. We speak with a special guest, Keerthi Reddy, a masters student at the Harvard Divinity School, who is focusing her studies on Zen Buddhism. First, Liza and Keerthi (old friends from college!) discuss the concept of suffering according to Buddhism, and how accepting reality as it is, and not the way we have been conditioned...

In this month's episode of TITW, we address a therapy hot topic (and one that Liza and Molly discuss regularly with each other off-air): how to accept feedback in both personal and professional settings, especially when (you perceive) it is negative. We explain why feedback can feel so hurtful to receive, and, on the other side of the dialectic, why it is so often necessary for growth. We share examples from our own lives, particularly throughout our therapist training, of times when even the...

This month, Liza and Molly are thrilled to share one of our favorite episodes yet: our conversation with Chris Jones, a mental health advocate who was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) approximately two years ago. Chris has completed Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and discusses in a radically genuine way both the ups and downs of going through treatment, and how using DBT skills has become second-nature (after a lot of hard work). In the episode, we cover the...

The TITW are officially back for *Season 2* of the podcast! We start off with a few exciting updates, since we can't wait to share what we've been working on during the season break. We discuss plans for the future of the podcast as well as the launch of our new website (!):  therapistsinthewild.com. Please check us out to learn more about the consulting/coaching services we are now offering for therapists and professionals in related fields, or to learn more about us and browse additional...

Welcome to our first bonus episode and our teaser for Season 2! In this episode, the TITW answer questions from listeners about how to cope effectively on Valentine's Day (or any holiday/event for which you might have high expectations, even if you wish you didn't). We start by sharing our own anecdotes from Valentine's Days past, where things may have gone better for us had we known about DBT. We each share stories about unmet expectations and discuss which DBT skills we could have used;...

In this final episode of TITW Season 1, Liza and Molly focus on putting it all together in order to help you stay skillful. Applying DBT skills in daily life is like learning a new language, and we know firsthand how challenging it can be to remember which skills to use when.  To that end, we start by summarizing the skills we've covered this season, in the Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness, and Distress Tolerance modules. Next, we present scenarios related to...

It is our last week of teaching new skills (!), and our second to last episode of Season 1! This week, we wrap up the Reality Acceptance part of the Distress Tolerance Module by walking you through how to practice Radical Acceptance, step-by-step.  We start the episode by sharing what acceptance looks like practically, according to DBT, and discuss how fully accepting the moment involves using both your body and your mind. Through listing a few scenarios that might be difficult to accept...

In this week's episode, Liza and Molly take on the challenge of introducing the skill of Radical Acceptance, or, as they prefer to call it, "Radical Acknowledgement [of Reality]."  This is some of the "deeper work" in DBT, as it has the capacity to both reduce suffering and create meaningful change in your life.  We start by defining what Radical Acceptance is (hint: it is NOT approving of or liking reality, being passive, or against change), and discuss what it is using a wide range of...

On today's episode, the TITW are teaching the final set of Crisis Survival Distress Tolerance skills covered in Season 1 of the podcast: Distract using "ACCEPTS" and Self-Soothe. Before we get into it, Molly and Liza share how they practiced TIP and Urge Surfing over the last week. No surprise here, but Tipping the Temperature was immediately effective at changing the current moment and creating a new one. Liza points out that Urge Surfing can be used to ride out ineffective urges anywhere -...

If there was ever a time to practice Distress Tolerance skills, it is now! Liza and Molly recorded this episode on election night, when they needed *all* the skills. After a quick review of the STOP skill, you will learn the skill of Urge Surfing, which is a mindfulness technique that helps you surf urges to engage in ineffective behaviors instead of acting on them, using your breath as your surfboard. After teaching the skill, Molly leads you through a guided Urge Surfing exercise, to help...

Welcome to the Distress Tolerance module, which is the final set of skills covered in Season 1 of the podcast! We share exciting plans that are in the works for Season 2, including a variety of guests and special topics requested by listeners. In introducing the module, we explain the goals of Distress Tolerance skills and how the module divides them into two parts: 1) Crisis Survival skills and 2) Reality Acceptance skills. Liza and Molly define the term "crisis" and give examples of what a...

Join Molly as she leads you through a brief, guided mindfulness practice: the Mountain Meditation by Jon Kabat-Zinn (2002). This meditation will help you experience a sense of being grounded, enabling you to access your inner strength and stability when faced with challenging circumstances, as many of us are right now. Stress and anxiety make it more difficult to connect to the present moment and access Wise Mind, both of which are critical to acting effectively in all interpersonal...

This episode begins with Molly sharing how she delivered a DEAR MAN using GIVE skills this week to promote TITW on a social media site (it worked!). Then, we get into the topic for this week: using FAST skills to increase and maintain self-respect. This skill is all about feeling proud of yourself after an interaction because you communicated in a way that honored your personal values. Liza and Molly discuss the idea that your actions influence others' behavior, and therefore the importance...

Molly and Liza begin today's episode with a review of the core interpersonal effectiveness skill in DBT: DEAR MAN. Liza shares a homework example in which she delivered a DEAR MAN to provide constructive feedback to a colleague, balancing priorities related to objective and relationship effectiveness. Then, we transition into discussing how to deliver a DEAR MAN when the relationship is the main priority. We introduce guidelines for relationship effectiveness through (yet) another acronym:...

This week on TITW, Molly and Liza teach "DEAR MAN," a simple acronym that will help you be effective in asking for what you want, communicating a personal limit, or even saying no to another's request. DEAR MAN is the foundation of all the DBT interpersonal effectiveness skills, and this week's episode focuses specifically on applying the skill when achieving your objective is the main goal. We will continue building on the material from this episode as we teach how to prioritize the...

Welcome to the Interpersonal Effectiveness module! Liza and Molly begin by discussing their plan to explore topics such as cultural adaptations of these (and other DBT) skills in Season 2 of the podcast, which we will begin after we finish teaching all of the skills as they are written in Marsha Linehan’s DBT manual this season. To introduce the module, we explore the benefits of using these skills, as well as factors that commonly interfere with effective interpersonal communication. Using...

The TITW are joined by Dr. Kiki Fehling, clinical psychologist (and former member of our Rutgers DBT team!), to discuss the Biosocial Theory of how emotion dysregulation (and BPD) develops. After graduating from Yale University, Kiki earned her PhD from Rutgers University and has received intensive training in DBT, CBT, and evidence-based trauma treatments. While she has worked with a broad range of clients, she has particular expertise working with members of the LGBTQ+ community, people...