"CBT doesn't really stand up against severe mental illness, so why should we expect that it's good for the average person who's suffering from some mild depression and anxiety? "
Because the two are very different things!
So very different!
Because the two are very different things!
So very different!
Our society doesn't value teaching children soft skills like healthy communication, or understanding what emotions are and distress tolerance around them. These are very basic things that a lot of people only learn after they get into therapy. And they help everyone if applied correctly. The skills you learn in DBT are skills that can help EVERYONE. When you learn how to communicate better at a gold standard you help yourself and the people around you.
If we have a gold standard that can be applied to the most severe cases and help, and this isn't based on anything specific to those disorders but rather taps into some very core "how to be human and deal with weird lizard brain hurty emotions" stuff we need to start using that. Using our brains to rationalize our way out of emotions got us to where we are as a society now and it's pretty unhealthy.
CBT tells you to look at the situation rationally and evaluate if you’re falling into one of many cognitive distortions humans are prone to. If you should be angry and you have the appropriate level of anger at the situation, good.
He specifically warns that using CBT to make everything good is actively harmful.