RO DBT is an evidence based treatment for issues of emotional and responsive over-control. These issues tend to show up as perfectionistic and inflexible thinking, chronic issues with anxiety and depression that may also include obsessive compulsive symptoms, and difficulty expressing emotion and connecting with others. RO DBT is influenced by "regular" DBT but is distinct as its own evidence based approach developed by Thomas Lynch. Similar to DBT, RODBT incorporates skill building into the treatment so that clients struggling with over-control can learn how to respond more flexibly to create a "life worth sharing". Unlike standard depression/anxiety treatments that focus on symptom reduction, RODBT focuses primarily on maladaptive coping and deficits in social signaling. Thus, RODBT proposes that it is possible to learn skills that can connect us to others and through doing so, improve the experience of depression and anxiety.

KEBT therapists Victoria Cane and Lindsay McClead are now Level 1 RODBT trained and along with fellow therapists Heather Roe and David Lawrence, are now offering RODBT skills classes for our clients who meet criteria for over-control issues.  Victoria has recently begun Level 2 RODBT training.

RODBT therapists emphasize optimal silly-ness. You read that right. OC folks take things far too seriously and it takes hard work to be more playful. But that is exactly what is needed, more playfulness, more silly-ness, more expressiveness ;)

What is Over-Control?

Issues of over-control (OC) are both biological and environmental and often present as evident in childhood. OC children may be described as emotionally constricted, shy, risk averse, and socially anxious contributing to isolation, depression, and anxiety. These issues may continue into adulthood where social/community connection and ability to form emotionally intimate relationships is hindered.

In general, RODBT is a 30 week program (there are 30 skills lessons). 

1. Radical Openness

2. Understanding Emotions

3. Activating Social Safety

4. Enhancing Openness and Social Connectedness via Loving-Kindness (recorded version is at the end of this list).

5. Engaging In Novel Behavior

6. How Do Emotions Help Us?

7. Understanding Overcontrolled Coping

8. Tribe Matters: Understanding Rejection and Self-Conscious Emotions

9. Social Signalling Matters!

10. Using Social Signaling to Live by Your Values: Flexible Mind is DEEP

11. Mindfulness Training Part 1: Overcontrolled States of Mind

12. Mindfulness Training Part 2: The “What” Skills

13. Mindfulness Training Part 3: The Core Mindfulness “How” Skill: With Self-Enquiry

14. Mindfulness Training, Part 4: The “How” Skills

15. Interpersonal Integrity, Part 1: Saying What We Really Mean

16. Interpersonal Integrity, Part 2: Flexible Mind REVEALs

17. Interpersonal Effectiveness: Kindness First and Foremost

18. Being Assertive With An Open Mind

19. Using Validation to Signal Social Inclusion

20. Enhancing Social Connectedness, Part 1

21. Enhancing Social Connectedness, Part 2

22. Learning from Corrective Feedback

23. Mindfulness Training Part 1: Overcontrolled States of Mind (Repeated from Lesson 11)

24. Mindfulness Training Part 2: The “What” Skills (Repeated from Lesson 12)

25. Mindfulness Training Part 3: The Core Mindfulness “How” Skill: With Self-Enquiry (Repeated from Lesson 13)

26. Mindfulness Training, Part 4: The “How” Skills (Repeated from Lesson 14)

27. Envy and Resentment

28. Cynicism, Bitterness, and Resignation

29. Learning to Forgive

30. RO Integration week