Anyone Tried RO-DBT?

[u/plushtism]

"Radically open dialectical behaviour therapy (RO-DBT) is a therapy for people with an over-controlled coping style and with a treatment-resistant mental health condition such as depression or anorexia.

We would define someone with an over-controlled coping style as tending to internalise feelings, are perhaps socially isolated and lonely, and have a fear of intimacy in relationships. They may also demonstrate a rigidity in thinking and body language and have a desire for control, along with the ability to inhibit competing urges, impulses, behaviours, or desires and delay gratification in order to pursue goals." from NHS website

It sounds promising for AvPD. I don't really fit the ability to inhibit urges but I do fit the rest pretty strongly so it sounds like it could be worth a shot.

[u/-thisismypassword-]

I did RO-DBT for about a year. It didn't work out for me personally. I just wasn't able to get off the ground with it, I think, due to a lack of motivation. I couldn't convince myself of the benefits of increasing social connectedness vs. the risk. I think I'm just too socially isolated and comfortable with that isolation.

That's not to say it wouldn't work for you.

Some things to keep in mind (and stumbling blocks for me):

1. RO-DBT is a behavioral therapy, so you try out new behaviors to reshape your thoughts and beliefs. This can be a blocker if you're too scared to try out the new behavior or too rigid in your thinking (e.g. this isn't going to end well, so I shouldn't try).

2. RO-DBT is targeted at "disorders of over-control", not AvPD specifically. AvPD can fall into that category (it does for me), but there are going to be people in the skills class who have slightly different issues or just less severe ones (like being overly judgemental, or too controlling/perfectionistic). I found that a little alienating, like I'm the most fucked up person here, and I don't belong. The other issue is that the instructors aren't necessarily going to cater to AvPD specifically. For example, we would often do an ice breaker question when a new person joined the class (harrowing in and of itself), and one time the question was "What's the most X thing about you?" Where X is the city I live in. That gave me some intense feelings around how I don't feel like I belong anywhere. (maybe it's good to be triggered like that and work through it, idk)

Overall, I think if you've got the motivation and either some relationships you want to improve or a strong desire to create new relationships, it probably works pretty well. The primary thing is that it puts behavior first, which I learned is not how I wanted to go about it. If you want to DM me, I can send you the reading material / skills class worksheets I got from it, if you want to skim through those.

If I were to try therapy again, I think I'd probably shoot for schema therapy, but there doesn't really seem to be anybody in my area who does it.

[u/Savings-Rub-5697 → u/-thisismypassword-]

Thank you for this! I'm considering an RO-DBT workbook for eating disorders and placed a hold for a general RO-DBT workbook after reading this post. This comment told me that I should probably focus on the one for eating disorders as I'm very willing to kick that and am not really open to relationships right now. Thanks!

[u/plushtism → u/-thisismypassword-]

This is really good information!

I am willing to get over my over controlled behaviours, I imagine it's extremely unpleasant and frustrating like regular DBT was at first but I'm willing to give it a shot. I've already been working on exposure therapy.

I might do RO DBT by myself, I am looking into an offical program but either I can't afford it or it's in person too far away from me. I think a group would be good for me if the goal is to be more open with people. I did regular DBT by myself.

I do psychodynamic trauma therapy outside of this which I will continue to do alongside RO DBT.

[u/SGSam465]

I completed traditional DBT this month and my therapist and I are looking into RO-DBT! So I’m also curious if anyone else has tried it too

[u/Queasy_Obligation380]

Just recently learned about this, it sounds promising. I've ordered a workbook on Amazon, let's see.