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Midwest, United States
I am a first-born female over age 60. I am middle class, and have a graduate degree in Business. I have over 28 continuous years in recovery from alcoholism. I have been in Borderline treatment for over 14 years. I still have not reached full-time Serenity, but I have continued to survive this disorder using distress tolerance skills, interpersonal effectiveness, mindfulness, and emotion regulation. These are the 4 components of the DBT Skills as devised by Dr. Marsha Linehan. Email me with any questions at amy@alawebpages.com. Many thanks and blessings for sharing my interest and broadening your awareness of this disorder.

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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Practicing the Skill of G.I.V.E. - F.A.S.T.


Yesterday, I practiced the Interpersonal Effectiveness skill of Keeping the Relationship. I had lost sleep over an issue that I needed to iron out with a friend. I do not like confrontation. I realized it was "now or never" in having this talk. And I dreaded it.


(Be ) Gentle, (Act) Interested, Validate and (use an) Easy manner. G.I.V.E in dealing with the conversation with my friend yesterday. I also made sure that I did not jump to conclusions. I also had to hold to keeping my respect for myself. (be) Fair, (no) Apologies, Stick to values, (be) Truthful. F.A.S.T. I had to speak my Truth and hold to how I was feeling about an issue with this person.



And the good news is: using this skill was effective in having a positive outcome! YAY ME! It is a good tact to take in any unpleasant dealings with another person. I feel good. My impulse was to avoid this person. But, I knew that this wasn't showing that I had learned anything in DBT Skills group. So --- a Borderline triumph.

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