DBT can be used for anyone that would like to cope more effectively, which means everyone.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) offers individuals comprehensive skills to manage emotions and decrease conflicts in their relationships. This modality focuses on 4 specific areas of therapeutic skills. These are:
- Mindfulness – Helps individuals be present in the current moment.
- Distress tolerance – Most people try and keep themselves safe from all negative emotions. Distress tolerance is geared toward increasing a person’s tolerance of negative emotions.
- Emotion regulation – Regulation is taking the steps to exert some control over our emotions. In DBT, emotion regulation specifically invites us to experience more pleasant emotions and decrease the frequency of negative emotions. Using emotion regulation, we’re able to understand what our different emotions are telling us about the situation we're in.
- Interpersonal effectiveness – These techniques allow an individual to communicate with others in a confident, assertive way that maintains self-respect and strengthens relationships.
How Does it Work Exactly?
Many of us live our daily lives with a constant stream of uncontrollable negative emotions right under our awareness. These emotions affect how we feel about ourselves and how we interact with other people, including friends, romantic partners and family members.
DBT essentially works with individuals to help them find ways to manage their negative emotions so they can feel balanced, in control and able to interact respectfully and successfully. The message at the heart of DBT is acceptance and change.
When is DBT Used and What Can You Expect?
While dialectical behavioral therapy was initially developed to treat those with Borderline Personality Disorder, research has since shown that DBT can successfully treat people with Depression, Bipolar Disorder, PTSD, eating disorders, and substance abuse.
Individual therapy sessions allow you to have one-on-one contact with a trained therapist who will help you apply DBT skills to your daily life, address any obstacle that may arise, and keep you motivated!
Finding a DBT Therapist
If you are interested in exploring DBT therapy, you should look for a therapist with specialized training and experience in DBT strategies. It’s also important that you look for someone you feel comfortable with.
If you or someone you know may benefit from DBT, please get in touch with me. I would be happy to discuss how I can help.