Posts by Michelle Dabach, MA, MFT
Helicopter Parenting and Failure to Launch
We all have hopes and dreams for our children. We believe we know what is best for them, and we go out of our way to make it happen. We bend rules, seek guidance, try to find loop holes to make our youngsters “better” than we are – more successful, to have more options, more…
Read MoreHow BPD Can Cause Failure To Launch In Young Adults
Failure to Launch (FTL) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) can, in many ways, be intertwined. The question of BPD contributing to FTL has come up many times for me in the past several weeks in my role as an admissions counselor at OPI Intensive, a residential transitional living program in Southern California exclusively for young…
Read MoreWhat is Project Semicolon About?
A new trend has been sweeping those who have ever considered, thought about, or attempted suicide. It’s the semicolon symbol (;), and it’s being tattooed as a statement of continuation. This is known as Project Semicolon. Project Semicolon has a simple mission statement: “A semicolon represents a sentence the author could have ended, but chose…
Read MoreDBT Self-Soothing Ideas for Men
Self-soothing is a common DBT practice that describes a way to comfort yourself during times of distress. It often focuses on one or more of your five senses – touch, taste, sight, smell, and/or sound. It has, over time, been more commonly associated with something women do, as a lot of the suggestions of self-soothing…
Read MoreAre Mental Health Issues “Contagious”?
One of the most common concerns I hear from family members calling to get information about residential care for loved ones is “I don’t want my loved one ( son/daughter/niece/nephew) to spiral further in the mental illness because of other participants.” When I hear this, I often reassure the family member that everyone has strengths…
Read MoreSelf-Soothing Techniques for Young Adults With BPD
Self-soothing is one of the DBT Distress Tolerance Skills that are taught to folks suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Many with this disorder were never taught how to self-soothe, essentially how to make themselves feel better or comforted when emotionally distressed. Doing something as simple as smelling a flower was never correlated with feeling…
Read MoreAsperger’s: Chronological vs. Developmental Age
I’ve been researching the connection between Asperger’s Syndrome and Failure to Launch – namely to find what the connection is between the two and what approaches are being used to “solve the problem.” Many parents are of the idea that their adult children with Asperger’s are unmotivated, lazy, slackers who need tough love. This tough…
Read MoreLaziness vs. a Failure to Launch into Adulthood
In response to a recent NPR perspectives “I didn’t Get the Child I Ordered.” You didn’t get into Stanford. Your parents think you didn’t work hard enough, and you think they see you as lazy. Grandma and Grandpa see you as lazy because your cousins had no problems getting into their first choice, top tier…
Read MoreBeing a LGBTQ Young Adult and Coping with Mental Health Issues
Figuring out who you are in this world is tough enough without having to worry about your sexual/gender orientation. Now, your questions aren’t only, “What am I going to do with my life? How will I contribute to society? What will my next five years look like?” But, “Who am I? How do I identify?…
Read MoreAnxiety and Failure to Launch Syndrome in Borderline Personality Disorder
Originally thought to be at the “borderline” between psychosis and neurosis, people with Borderline Personality Disorder suffer from a disorder of emotion regulation. A person with BPD may experience intense bouts of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last only hours, or at most a day. These may be associated with episodes of impulsive aggression…
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