dbt Archives - More Than Quirky

Big Feelings: Assisting with Distress

April 5, 2024

Autistic people frequently suffer from ongoing stresses, like being misunderstood, feeling unheard, experiencing RSD, having schema disrupted, etc. Most neurodivergent people experience many of these, even if allistic, due to the pressure placed upon them by neuronormative societal expectations. While this can result in meltdowns, or challenging behaviour, another demonstration of this can be straightforward distress. What is Distress? Distress is extreme sadness, anxiety, or pain, and can present in a number of ways. “Distressed[…]

Setting the Tone

November 22, 2023

Sometimes dysregulation can feel like it has simply set in. There can be phases where every day feels harder and more out of your control. While there can be other factors that genuinely are beyond your control, one common issue is our own negative feelings as parents. Neurodivergent people have the reputation of lacking empathy, however the vast majority are quite the opposite. Many are emotional sponges, whether they want to be or not! Setting[…]

Urge Surfing: Developing Impulse Control

November 14, 2023

TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of suicide Impulse control can be difficult for many neurodivergent people. Sometimes it is a genuine inability to control reflexes, responses, and behaviours. Often, however, it is just an inclination; the simple fact that impulse control does not come naturally and needs to be learned more explicitly through techniques such as Urge Surfing. Admittedly, this is also the case for some neurotypical people too! Just as the majority of the general population[…]

Take a Pause: The Deep Breath

November 9, 2023

We all need to pause sometimes. Taking a deep breath is a very common regulation method, for neurodivergent and neurotypical people. But have you considered it metaphorically? Are you hitting the same hurdles regularly? Are things escalating, and taking longer to calm down again? Does everything feel harder lately? Take a deep breath. This “deep breath” comes in many forms. It can take as short as a few seconds, or as long as… well… as[…]