Tags
bipolar, breathing, DBT, distress, group, group therapy, half-smile, therapy
We continue to soldier on with distress tolerance. We start and end each session with a mindfulness exercise. This week it was focusing on a rock for 2.5 minutes. Hrm. Not much to say about that. I was feeling pretty low on Monday evening this week, so that didn’t help either.
Less than inspired doodling.
Then we reviewed the homework. I expressed some frustration at finding it difficult but not very useful. There was some good discussion around that – all of the other people in the group have been through this module before and a couple had updated their worksheets from the last time, and remarked on how things had change. All in all, it sounded like my problem with it was either a) I don’t really want to change the behavior (marginally true), b) I haven’t contemplated it enough yet to really see the full extent of pros and cons, c) it’s the wrong strategy for the issues I want to address, or d) some combination of the above. I would guess…d.
The new strategies this week seem trivial, but also potentially really useful. They include mindfulness breathing exercises, and the half-smile. Yes, half-smile. I’ll get to that. Out of a choice of seven different breathing exercises to promote mindfulness, I picked the one that involved counting breaths. I do so like to count things. I already used it against the anxiety of oral surgery this week (the valium also helped…) Controlled breathing is something I’m down with; it’s definitely a good skill to have in the arsenal. I just don’t think to deploy it often enough or strategically enough, I guess.
The half-smile. It was likened to a “Mona Lisa smile.” Not a full smile that involves your eyes – no, that would be trying to force it. That’s basically the “fake it til you make it” model, the lying-to-yourself version of using somatic conditioning to improve psychological functioning (which science shows does actually work). Instead, the half-smile focuses on acceptance and, after a fashion, transcendence. The problem with “fake it til you make it” is that it invalidates a painful experience, which is a self-perpetuating problem.
So we are to practice half-smiling, sort of like a smirk. Upturned corners of the mouth but a relaxed face. I’ve been trying to do this when I think of it. I try to put on the face I see on serene-looking buddhas, which feels a bit silly and I’m not sure what it’s accomplishing. It’s the sort of strategy I could use whenever, so in case it does actually do something for me, I might as well give it a try.
Yep. People keep telling me to smile even if I don’t feel happy and like doing so, and in the end, it will become a genuine smile.
Tough to do but I’m working on it!
Yeah, I find I’m practicing the half-smile at random times when I think of it. I’m not sure that’s the point, but I’m trying.
Eh. I’m not sure I believe in the halfway smile. I never genuinely smiled until I was in high school. I always would do the pretend halfway smile when I knew I was supposed to, but I never started to feel it. On the plus side, I think that made me more appreciative about how good truly smiling feels.
Counter-evidence! I’m not entirely sold on the half-smile, but I’m trying to give it a fair shake.
I don’t know what a rock will help with. I’ve tried zen, and I got bored and went back to philosophy instead. Much more relaxing and gives me something to think about. I believe that we’re thinking creatures first and foremost and we should feed the monster, preferably with philosophy, math, science, and art.
I definitely agree with you on breathing. It’s a tried and true method that after you encode it, it becomes natural to slow down and relax a bit. It takes a while, but it works wonders (not as good as xanax though).
As for the half smile… I know that there’s research that shows it works and it deals with embodied cognition. But I haven’t ever seen research that shows it works for people who are depressed as a result of a mental disorder or to any appreciable effect. There is some effect, but it’s only really beneficial when it’s a “bad hair day” kind of mood. I too gave it a try, and really tried it, not just half heartedly. I didn’t get bupkis. No fluctuation in my mood chart at all. There may have been something, but then again, I also have to account for normal tolerance in mood swings if it did show a difference. And after trying it, I looked at myself in the mirror while doing it, I looked like a stereotypical sociopath ready to butcher his office. Not exactly the image I’d want with people knowing I’m mentally ill.
The rock was just for something to focus on during mindfulness time. Sometimes it’s cake, or a piece of music or whatever. It’s annoying if you’re not in a great mood, but just sort of “meh” the rest of the time.
The DBT thing was designed for people with BPD, so not really intended for people with organic mental illnesses (as currently understood, anyway.) However, it’s been shown useful for mood disorders more generally, so I figure it’s worth a shot. I also wonder about how some of these things can help me when I’m literally not in control of my emotional state. But to the degree that I can control any of it, I want to have the tools I need to make that work.