For many mental health workers and clients, the word “narcissist” now sits at a crossroads of meaning. Among expert diagnosticians, the term often refers to a person with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD)—a formal mental health diagnosis indicating a genuine illness. However, it also carries a second, non-clinical, judgmental meaning: a clinical-sounding synonym for "selfish," "manipulative," or "deceptive."

Many of the clients we support sometimes conclude that time will take care of it—whatever the "it" is. This isn’t true. Time is simply a phenomenon that correlates with all things that happen, including recovery, but it is not the cause of healing itself.

When we think about what clients gain from DBT Skills Training, we usually focus on the formal curriculum of distress tolerance skills, emotion regulation skills, interpersonal effectiveness skills and, of course, mindfulness skills. But there's a quieter, hidden layer of learning happening, too.