Customer Reviews

Don't Let Your Emotions Run Your Life: How Dialectical Behavior Therapy Can Put You in Control (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an amazing workbook. The first time I looked through it, I thought is was over-simplified and would not be of much use to me. But I was wrong. It teaches readers how to understand where their emotions come from, how to identify emotions that seem to come out of nowhere, and how to control how we react to those overwhelming emotions. It's indispensible for anyone who has Borderline Personality Disorder and truly wants to get better. It's also great for anyone who has difficult controling extreme emotional feelings. The workbook format makes this very easy to read. The exercises are very helpful and informative. Heck, some of them are even fun!

I am finding this workbook to be an excellent hands-on experience for my patients who feel overwhelmed by their emotions. It opens with a concisely written strategic guide to understanding the role emotions play in behavior and moves on to some step-by-step tactical exercises. This book helps the patient and therapist have a common ground in discussing where the "rubber meets the road" in the role that emotions play in both mood and personality disorders. It saves many an hour fumbling around in therapy and trying to develop effective homework interventions.

DBT is a wonderful treatment for many people who become emotionally overwhelmed and try to ease their agony by doing things that just make life worse in the long run (like exploding or cutting themselves or getting smashed or ending an important relationship abruptly). This workbook makes many of Marsha Linehan's approaches (that have been proven useful in fancy research studies)understandable and useful to people who do not have a PHD in psychology.
How cool is that?!

I've found this to be a very user-friendly, readable workbook. Interesting,informative and normalizing w/o unnecessary jargon or psychobabble. I'm going through it with a client who's learning what it means to be "borderline". The DBT principles are beautifully woven in. It is a great introduction to her of what a DBT group could offer her and a very helpful adjunct to our individual therapy, especially now while a DBT group is not an option for her.

You can teach 4 year olds to count. You can teach an old dog to fetch. At 45 I thought there was no help for me. I just couldn't change. But this book helped me to learn the skills I needed to get along with myself my family and society. It is dry reading but keep at it and you will find a new person within you.

This book is a joy to read. It offers (in simple to understand language) an understanding of your emotions and many tools on how to handle them. I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially if you grew up in a family where your parents had emotional problems and were not able to offer you guidance or validation of your emotions while growing up.

It's a great treasure.....tb

I have been having trouble controling my emotions my whole life. I was never taught to control my emotions, so it has always been a struggle for me. Following the books guidelines and working one chapter at a time has helped me so much. It has improved my relationship with my boyfriend and given me a happier outlook on life knowing that my emotions are part of me but don't have to be who I am. I highly reccommend it, it's just like doing a workbook for a english or psych class. I also purchased the Self-Esteem Workbook. It's been just as helpful to me as this one.

I am the webowner of BPD Today. Am in the midst of taking a dialectical behavioral class. I have been following this book along with my class and it has greatly assisted me in learning these skills. Provides it's own workbook exercises as well as assisting one in understanding this excellent form of therapy. I highly recommend it to borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder consumers!

Marsha Linehan's book is far better written and effective. I would buy that book and skip Mr. Spradlin's book completely.

I expected more. More depth. More through explanations. More insightful exercises. Mr Spradlin is a mediocre writer. He lacks clarity and could really use a better editor.

The book read like a watered down version of Ms. Linehans' book.

I ordered this book to help a friend through a "mid-life" crisis. He is apprehensive to seek counseling, so I thought that this book might be a good supplement and indeed it has been beneficial. He strongly recommends purchasing the workbook.