Taking Your Meds Is A DBT Skill
There are many of us who take psychiatric medications to help regulate our emotions. That's totally okay. It's even a Dialectical Behavior Therapy skill!
The Emotion Regulation skill ABC PLEASE is all about ways to alter your routine in order to reduce your vulnerability to emotions. Getting balanced exercise, balanced eating, balanced sleep are all included in the acronym. The (second) A originally stood for "avoid mood-altering drugs." It's still a great idea to avoid unprescribed substances that might affect your mood. However, the skill has grown to mean something more in recent decades.
Here at Online DBT Skills, our A in PLEASE stands for avoid non-prescribed substances and take your prescribed medications. So if you're taking your meds as prescribed and/or avoiding other drugs and alcohol that harm you, you're using a DBT skill! Put that on your Diary Card!
We firmly believe in practicing DBT in a way that works for you. We are flexible to your learning style and here to support you in whatever way works best.