Benefits of DBT Mindfulness Skills

As you can probably see, one major benefit of mindfulness is that if you really practice it, you will spend a lot more time experiencing your life as it is right now, rather than being tormented by anxious or distressing thoughts about your past or future. Mindfulness, then, can be the antidote to some of the distressing thought patterns that people with anxiety often experience.

Next, we list some of the other benefits that you might experience if you practice mindfulness skills, including those specific to anxiety problems as well as more general benefits. Many of the people we have worked with have commented on these benefits, and mindfulness research (Baer 2003) also supports the idea that many people achieve at least some of them.

· You learn to pay attention to your thoughts, emotions, and experiences in the here and now, and learn to see them for what they are.

· You learn to step back and notice your current situation, observe your thoughts and emotions, and decide on a wise course of action.

· Instead of avoiding your emotions at all costs, you can learn to step back and experience them, notice them, and then figure out what to do about them.

· You learn to disengage from worry, rumination, and obsessive thoughts.

· You live a richer, fuller life.

· You enjoy positive experiences more acutely.

· You learn to be more present with other people.

· You understand yourself better and with more clarity.

We hope that as we guide you through the mindfulness skills in this workbook, you’ll realize many of these benefits in your daily life and in dealing with anxiety problems.

Exercise 3.1 Get Started with Mindfulness Skills

Here is an exercise in using the skill of noticing or paying attention to your experiences in the here and now, or mindful observation. Here are some important instructions to follow before you get started:

1. Find a quiet place where you can sit without anyone bothering you for about five to ten minutes.

2. Get into a comfortable position, sitting on a couch or chair, the floor, or mats or pillows if you have them.

3. Start paying attention and noticing according to the following instructions (paying attention to sounds, the sensation of sitting, and what you see around you).

4. Remember that if your mind wanders or you feel like moving, scratching an itch, getting up, or stopping the exercise, simply observe these experiences and turn your mind back to what you were paying attention to. Similarly, if you start to get swept up in your thoughts, gently escort your mind back to your focus of attention.

5. Remember that mindfulness is simple but not easy; don’t be hard on yourself if you have a difficult time with this exercise or your mind wanders. Minds wander; that’s simply what they do. The whole practice of mindfulness is simply bringing your mind back to the present whenever it wanders somewhere else, so if your mind wanders a thousand times, that means you get a thousand times more practice than if it wanders only once. Be sure to try each step of the exercise for a few minutes before you move on to the next one.

Here are the instructions for mindful observation:

1. Start by paying attention to the sounds that you hear. Shine the spotlight of your attention on sounds. Listen attentively, carefully, and with curiosity, as if all the sounds you hear were new to you. Just see what you notice.

2. Bring the spotlight of your attention to the sensations of sitting. Notice what it feels like to be sitting down, notice where the chair or cushion contacts your body, and pay attention to any sensations, whether you notice pressure, warmth, pain, hardness, or any other sensation. Whatever you notice is perfectly okay; just pay attention.

3. Now bring your attention to what you see around you. Start by looking down at the floor, and notice what you see there. If you have emotional reactions to or thoughts about what you see, simply allow them to come and go, and bring your mind back to what you see. Slowly raise your gaze from the floor, and look at the walls and furniture (if you’re in a room with walls and furniture). Pay close attention to each object you look at. Try your best to look at it with curiosity, as if you have never seen it before.

As you’ll see in later chapters, you can use this skill of simply noticing or observing to pay attention to other things as well, such as your emotions, your thoughts, your breathing, or pretty much anything that is happening right here and now.

Do your best to practice mindfulness skills whenever you can, whether you are walking, working, swimming, on vacation, worrying, or planning—whatever you are doing. You can almost always practice mindfulness no matter what you’re doing; you simply have to bring your mind to the here and now, and pay attention.

DBT Distress Tolerance Skills

Distress tolerance skills in DBT were designed to help people deal with overwhelming emotions, thoughts, and situations temporarily until things change (Linehan 1993b). If you suffer from anxiety problems, you’re no stranger to overwhelming emotions. Sometimes it might seem as if the only way to deal with your emotions is to curl up and hide somewhere, to completely avoid all thoughts and situations that make you anxious. As discussed, although such strategies can give you short-­term relief, they create problems in the long run.

There are other ways to deal with overwhelming anxiety, stress, and tension—­ways that can help you feel a little better in the moment and that have long-­term benefits. That’s what the distress tolerance skills are all about, and they have several benefits for people who struggle with a variety of emotional problems, including those related to anxiety.