Illuminating DBT

Dialectical Behavior Therapy is the form of therapy that makes the most sense to me, and has helped me a lot in life.  Marsha Linehan's creation, DBT, blends some eastern philosophy with some more straight up behaviorism, and allows space for complexity, without focusing too much on our pasts.

An idea came to me that I would like to try blogging about and here is where I start.

I am going to take one of DBT's concepts, each month and blog about how I attempt to practice it in my life.


I have developed a bit of ba-humbug attitude about Christmas.  While I used to enjoy the festivities and that "feeling in the air", I've since decided, it doesn't really exist. My adult version of realizing that there is no Santa Claus, is the acceptance of the fact that there is nothing really new or exciting that is going to happen this Christmas.   I'm tired of participating in that collective expecting, only to ultimately feel kinda let down.

Now I could psycho-analyze that and reflect on why I might feel this way--  Is this aversion to the holiday about never really getting what I wanted on Christmas as a child?  I wanted a cabbage patch kid, but got Grandma's homemade cabbage patch doll, in which she sewed the body and attached an imitation head bought at the fabric store.  Or that in seventh grade I secretly wanted to ask for a psychologist for my family and myself for Christmas?  Or maybe that I never had the guts to ask for what I really wanted?

Possibly all of the above.  But what I've got to work with is what I have now.  And what I've got is a pessimistic attitude towards the holidays.  So, my first DBT technique will work on challenging this attitude.