Thoughts on Record: Podcast of the Ottawa Institute of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Dr. Jesse Finkelstein - A DBT Guide to Navigating Stress, Emotions, and Relationships
Jan 6, 2026
Dr. Jesse Finkelstein, a licensed clinical psychologist and DBT trainer, discusses his book Real Skills for Real Life. He emphasizes how DBT can help navigate stress and emotional challenges through practical skills. The conversation covers the balance of acceptance and change, the universality of suffering, and the importance of reducing shame. They also explore how modern distractions impede emotional resilience and the significance of radical acceptance in processing trauma. Listeners gain insights into actionable tools for emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.
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Uncertainty Drives Collective Dysregulation
- Jesse Finkelstein suggests pervasive uncertainty fuels broad societal dysregulation and polarization.
- He argues our prediction-focused brains get taxed by constant unpredictability, increasing emotional dysregulation.
Use Dialectics To Resolve Polarization
- Use dialectics: hold both acceptance and change to reduce pushback and enable progress.
- Ask "what are we leaving out?" to find a synthesis that acknowledges multiple truths.
Normalize Suffering To Reduce Shame
- Normalizing suffering reduces shame and isolation and opens access to evidence-based help.
- Jesse emphasizes clinicians should communicate shared humanity and personal experience with pain.
