Article in NY Times about Mental Health Parity

Click here to read an article in last week's NY Times about the new Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.  According to the Obama administration, individuals may be entitled broader mental health coverage than before.

Graduate Group at CCDBT

We are excited to announce that CCDBT has started a DBT Graduate Group for young adults. Participants must have completed DBT Skills Group and have an individual therapist. The purpose of this group is to help young adults continue to practice DBT skills as well as to provide ongoing peer consultation. The group will be held Thursday afternoons from 2:15-3:15pm. The group is an open format, and we would love to have new members join as they are ready.  If you are interested, please contact Dr. Rachel Gerstein (516-390-3525 x17) or Dr. Liz Gellman (516-390-3525 x 24), or talk to your individual therapist.

Mindfulness Exercise from BTech

I came across this interesting mindfulness exercise from Marsha Linehan and Behavioral Tech and thought I'd pass it along:

"Radical acceptance requires turning the mind. Turning the mind is where you simply say, 'Yes. I will. OK.' It means you find within yourself the ability to say 'Every moment is perfect. Every day is a good day. Everything is as it should be.'' It may not be what you want, and it may not be what you like, but it’s what it should be. It’s turning the mind.

Now the fact that you turn back around again 30 seconds later is not important. You probably will turn back around and say, ‘No! Everything is not perfect!’ The minute you see that happening, just gently turn your mind again. ‘Every day is a good day. Everything is as it should be.’

In this mindfulness exercise, I'd like you to practice just that - turning the mind. Turning the mind is going within, following your breath within, and allowing yourself to accept the moment of the breath – just this one moment of this one breath.

You might find it useful, as you breathe in, to say, ‘Everything is perfect,’ and as you breathe out to say, ‘…as it is.’ Everything is perfect… as it is. So sit down. Get yourself comfortable. Get into a posture that is somewhat willing, sitting up straight, feet flat on the floor, and nothing on your lap.

Everything is perfect… as it is."

Article on Brandon Marshall and BPD

Click here to read an article about Brandon Marshall wearing green shoes in the Bears v Giants game to support Mental Health Awareness Week.  Marshall was reportedly diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder in 2011.

This Week in Adolescent and Family DBT Group

This week in Adolescent and Family DBT Group we are reviewing the FAST skill and the Interpersonal Effectiveness module as a whole.  The Interpersonal Effectiveness module deals with how to improve our relationships; specifically, how to ask for what we want (DEAR MAN), how to keep a good relationship (GIVE) and how to keep respect for yourself in relationships (FAST).

This Week in Adult DBT Group

This Week in Adult DBT Group we are beginning the Mindfulness module.  The first skill in this module is the States of Mind.  The three States of Mind are Emotion mind (acting impulsively based on our emotions), Reasonable mind (acting just based on the facts, no emotion), and Wise mind (acting based on some emotion and some facts, making decisions we feel good about for years to come). 

Article in the NY Times about Mindfulness

Click here to read an article in this week's NY Times about training doctors in mindfulness techniques.  They reported that doctors trained in mindfulness had decreased levels of burnout, anxiety, depression, and distress.