Playing D&D in a therapeutic setting provides structure, social engagement, and experimentation of new roles and behaviors in a safe environment. Groups are facilitated by a licensed therapist.
Mental Health Benefits of Therapeutic D&D
There are many mental health benefits to D&D as therapy, including improving social skills, navigating conflict, learning to express and assert yourself, relaxing control, and so much more.
Additionally, fun is an important, evidence-based intervention that treats disorders of over-control, such as obsessive-compulsive personalty disorder and anorexia nervosa. The Katy DBT Center’s D&D groups address the social isolation that often accompanies these disorders.
By working on social relationships with others, players develop their capacities to form long-lasting social bonds, share valuable resources, and work together. Joining in communal activities, like D&D, sends a powerful message to our brain—that we are part of a tribe and accepted.
D&D groups provide therapeutic tools and are used in conjunction with Radically Open DBT provided within the program.
Practicing the art of non-productivity
Being able to laugh and chuckle—even at our own foibles—is a sign of good mental health. Being able to do this non-judgmentally is essential for healthy self-esteem and rewarding friendships.
Practicing new ways of expressing ourselves, even moving our bodies, helps break down over-learned inhibitory responses that act as a barrier to social connection.
Play has been a vital part of human life for millennia. It allows us to repeat, rehearse, exaggerate, and experiment with new behavior.
What does it mean to be “over-controlled?”
Over-controlled personalities exhibit too much self-control, behavioral and cognitive inflexibility, inhibited emotions, detail-focused processing, and perfectionism.
Over-controlled coping develops because it initially leads to success, as self-control is highly valued by society. However, disorders of overcontrol can lead to social isolation and long-term depression.
Group Therapy with D&D provides a safe place to become uninhibited and to try out new behaviors, free of consequence.
Please use the contact form to pre-register. Come play with us!
