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The Theory Of Angel Reported During Therapy

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Angel reported during therapy that through her self-injury she found feelings of relief from stress surrounding conflict at home. She found that her conflict and arguing with her brother was really impacting her happiness. She also identified guilt over feeling as though she was disappointing her parents as she was pulling away from them to figure out her own way and to learn more about herself. She expressed that these situations made were too much for her to cope with. She also shared that she was feeling overwhelming responsibility for her grandmother not taking her medication, drinking too much, and feeling depressed. The therapist worked with Angel using DBT techniques and exercises to address her self-injury and binging behavior. …show more content…

These techniques include using cold water to bring ones’ temperature down, engaging in intense exercise to bring up heart rate through running, walking fast, lifting weights or something similar, paced breathing, and pairing the above with muscle relaxation work. To address Angel’s struggles with self-esteem surrounding her body image and general esteem issues related to her depression the therapist used CBT techniques with Angel. The therapist used different exercises to help Angel move from her distorted maladaptive thoughts to healthier and more positive ones. The therapist did this by utilizing an exercise out of David Burns’ book “Ten Days To Self-Esteem”, “Fifteen Ways to Untwist Your Thinking.” The therapist additionally worked with Angel to help her develop a list of her own strengths, behaviors and people in her life that made her feel good about herself. When she was feeling emotionally deregulated she could then refer to list of things to do to occupy her time or she had a list of positive, healthy people, she could reach out to for support, encouragement, and to enjoy time with. To help Angel in making decisions in her life that worked for her she and the therapist worked on identify her personal values. They did this through using Miller, Matthew, and Wilbourne’s values assessment. Angel was reluctant to give this a try. She reported she

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