James Donaldson on Mental Health - Helping Kids Who Are Too Controlled

Helpful for treatment-resistant One group that RO DBT can be especially helpful for is people with treatment-resistant depression or anxiety.

Overcontrollers may resist treatment for associated disorders because they’re not open to new information.

“They tend to really think that they know the answer,” explains Dr.

Hamlet, “and that there’s no point in really being open or flexible, because their answer is right.” So flexibility skills can help them respond to treatment for other symptoms as well.

Hamlet uses the example of children she’s treating who have the form of anxiety called emetophobia , or the fear of vomiting.

The conventional treatment for emetophobia is a form of CBT called exposure therapy , which involves gradual exposure to the thing that triggers anxiety until it loses its power.

But if kids are overcontrollers it may not work.

“It doesn’t really get at the underlying mechanism of overcontrol,” she points out.

“Vomiting is something you really have no control over, so it’s a classic problem for an overcontroller.” Learning flexibility and connecting to others both help overcontrollers feel less threatened by things that are new or outside their comfort zone.

“New learning can only occur when you feel safe,” she adds, “And safety over time is with others.