I saw my therapist today. One of the things we have been working on is trying to delay my binging and purging. The DBT skills I use most are ones that distract me. For example, walking Kiti, playing mindless computer games, listening to music, having a bath, doing chores, etc. The skills I tend to AVOID are those that mean focusing on the emotions and sensations that lead to the binging/purging. It is scary to immerse yourself in something that you are so desperately trying to escape or end.
The theory is, that by staying with the emotion you are trying to escape, over time, the level of that emotion will decrease because it can not stay at a heightened level indefinitely. Then the more often this happens and you don't carry out the behaviours you normally would, the level of emotion will start to decrease and it will also occur less often. Of course, the problem when applying this to binging and purging is part of the emotions/feelings are actually physical. Since I restrict, my body feels hungry and that gets incorporated into the emotions as well. However, I can see how this works. I have seen this done with phobias. You stay close to an object you are phobic of and stay there rather than retreating. If you do this for a while, the fear has to decrease.
Of course, another thing I have to do is increase my intake which is so scary because I know it involves also gaining weight. Wish the weight thing didn't bother me so much. Sigh.
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