are behavioral therapies the be all and end all????

 Hey guys. 

I'm quite biased on this, mainly because I had Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for 8 years with no other therapy offered, but I can see their place. 

I personally have done both DBT (as I have mentioned) and STEPPS as well as some CBT, but I truly believe that they are not the answer on their own. Fair enough trying to get coping strategies in order to cope with issues and maladaptive coping (such as Self-harm) but what about dealing with the issues that lay behind all the behavior  Can changing how you deal with things through mindfulness or opposite to emotion actually mean that you can move on with your life without dealing with past issues. This is a personalized thoughts, and for some people this may work, but I feel that it doesn't deal with the real issues.

I do currently have a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, hence being offered these therapies, and I do feel that they have helped a little, given me more choices when I need it. However I feel I need to deal with the root of my problems (the abuse) to be able to truly move on. For me nothing really changed until I started talking a little about this, rather than trying to change my thinking. I have found that by talking about stuff that really distresses me has started to change my core beliefs, well at least but a little bit of doubt on them. 

I will give an example. I believe that I am evil, and this is why what happened happened. Within therapy it was just challenging this, however because this belief is so entrenched I couldn't.  I didn't know the challenges and as I believed it with my whole body I just didn't know how to think differently. But, when I was seeing the psychologist at Lavender I began to understand where this came from (i.e. my abuser told me repeatedly that this is the reason that he did what he did) and then came up with challenges, the one that has really stuck with me is that people who are evil don’t worry about it (like I do). I still struggle with it, but things have shifted slightly so now I see the possibility of it not being true.

I am not saying that behavioral therapies don't work, because I would be wrong, I am sure there is a lot of research showing their validity. I just feel that there is too much emphasis on this, treating symptoms instead of their cause, and for some people, such as myself, this doesn't help. Of cause everyone is individual and maybe for some people it means that they can get on with their lives.

I think what I find so infuriating for myself is that the Government and CCGs put so much money into these, but nothing really into longer term therapy so I can deal with the abuse and what that has left me with. Today mental health is meant to be personalized to suit each individual, but how can they when they don’t fund things that could help some people.

Sorry...rant over!