The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for CPTSD: Heal from Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Find Emotional Balance, and Take Back Your Life

by Sheri Van Dijk

Genres: Psychology, Mental Health

216 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2024

About the author

I am a psychotherapist working at Southlake Regional Health Centre and in private practice. I have a Master's degree in social work, and specialize in treating psychiatric disorders using dialectical behavior therapy and mindfulness practice.

I have written several books that help readers use DBT skills to treat emotional problems, including The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder, The Bipolar Workbook for Teens (co-author), Don’t Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens, and Calming the Emotional Storm; and am the author of DBT Made Simple, a book that aims to teach clinicians how to use DBT with their clients diagnosed with a variety of emotional problems.

I'm just putting the finishing touches on my sixth book, which teaches teens DBT skills to help them be more effective in their relationships; look for this book to be published early in 2015.

In 2010 I won the R.O. Jones Award at the Canadian Psychiatric Association Annual Conference for my research on using DBT skills in a bipolar disorder group, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in March, 2013.

Visit me at www.sherivandijk.com.

Reviews

[Shereadbookblog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focusing on Complex (multiple, chronic, or ongoing trauma) PTSD, this book helps understand the effects of trauma on our psyches and behaviors and provides some good coping skills and ways to manage one’s life. Utilizing dialectical behavior therapy techniques, this workbook would be useful to both professionals and people wanting to heal from CPTSD and take control of their lives. This is a book that probably should be read and re read a few times to maximize its benefits.

Thanks to #NetGalley and @NewHarbinger for the DRC.

[Dailynn Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This workbook is a great resource for anyone hoping to learn more about types of trauma and accessible methods of moving past them. The author is easy to understand, avoiding relying on scientific jargon, and provides situational examples for each section. Van Dijk’s goal is to validate the user’s experience with trauma, assuring them that what happened to them was not their fault, and neither is how they reacted to it. Survivors of trauma are justified in their coping mechanisms, but if these are unhealthy or ultimately not beneficial, this workbook can help them recognize and work through experiences like dissociation, avoidance, and hypervigilance.

The author recognizes that everyone is experiencing trauma in different ways, and meets them at every level within this book. I found this workbook to be so valuable, especially what I learned about trauma’s effect on the body, understanding different trauma responses, and how developmental trauma manifests in adults. (One response to trauma is to overwork yourself to avoid your emotions–that one really got me) This author even found a way to present mindfulness as a way to ease anxiety/becoming triggered in a way that didn’t make me roll my eyes. I feel more prepared and motivated to work through my own personal trauma after reading through this workbook, and am grateful to the author for truly understanding what our traumatized brains and bodies need to move forward.

“You are not to blame for the way your body and mind have chosen to help you survive and through learning about these processes, you’ll be more able to change the way your body and mind respond in the future.”

[Alyssa Downer-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I have my pretty big share of mental health disorders (among other fun things). I have spent time in both inpatient care as well as outpatient. I have been seeing a therapist weekly for several years. I am no stranger to DBT.

I was pleased to get the chance to get an early look at this workbook. I am a fan of how Sheri Van Dijk creates these tools that are oriented towards specific disorders allowing us to tackle our needs individually. I appreciate her for making a very user friendly workbook for those of us who want to better understand how our complex traumas and reactions affect us and how to better manage C-PTSD.


***Thank you to New Harbinger, the publisher, and NetGalley for this advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Ava Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an aspiring trauma therapist, CPTSD is something I’m super passionate about. Not a lot of people know about the complex version of PTSD, and this leaves so many people struggling to identify their experiences- sometimes even receiving other mental health diagnoses that neglect the root issue of trauma. This book addresses that gap and I think it’s a crucial addition to the psychology book genre. This workbook has so many strengths- it meets readers where they are at in their trauma healing process, empowers readers with knowledge, and provides a variety of different activities and tools to improve wellbeing. Overall, the information provided in this book is an incredible resource for those dealing with CPTSD, and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to New Harbinger Publications for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Bird Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio.

I don’t know how to rate this. It’s for self reflection, mindfulness, a guidebook on what cptsd is, how it’s treated, and beginning to ask yourself questions about maladaptive behaviors and emotions.

…Maybe I shouldn’t have speed read it.

(Also probably more effective in print form.)

[Tom Loncar · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for CPTSD, Sheri Van Dijk has created a comprehensive and immensely readable resource for professional and general audiences alike. A thoroughly engaging evidence-based read!