[marginalium]
A new distraction: dialectical behaviour therapy
6 Aug 2024
Very good article on dialectical behaviour therapy. Now spilling out of more ‘severe’ treatment programs into self help for the general public, we’re bound to see the language of dialectics spill into day to day use. The new amygdala (see also the other distractions). I like their conclusion as something to keep in mind. It generalises to all ‘parts work’:
When the illusion of control falls short, DBT’s ethic of present-tense thinking and skilled self-reliance is met with an equal and opposite reaction: a culture fixated on the trauma plot, where people hold tightly to their stories as evidence that their lives aren’t their fault. Now that a logic of skillful self-management has become synonymous with mental health, people are left with two bad options: externalize the problem, molding it into a carefully crafted story about other people’s misbehavior so people will stop yelling at you to get a grip; or internalize it and commit to ceaseless skill acquisition in the hopes of someday needing nothing. DBT and its critics represent opposite sides within an often contradictory mainstream mental wellness culture ensnared in yet another dialectic — one that holds that you are defined by your trauma, yet accountable for your woes.
We can add this dialectic to our list: your pain is your responsibility; your pain is not your fault. You are good; you need to change. Fight the terms of capitalism and ableism; capitulate to them when you need to. DBT is a palliative that makes people into docile workers and uses a corporate vocabulary to remodel their behavior; DBT is one way to make the world survivable.
Anthologies: Gratification, Somatic Architecture, On (Un)happiness, Neurotypica, Karstica