What is DBT?
DBT or Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy developed by Marsha Linehan. It was first used primarily for individuals who had been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, but has since been recognized as an extremely effective form of therapy for many different types of people. DBT is used in a variety of settings with clients of all ages.
DBT is broken into four different skill groups
Mindfulness: This isn’t just about being able to breathe or be present, it is about learning how to be in the moment without judging the moment, to use our breath as a means of regulating our emotions, and to notice the early signs of distress so that we can manage our experiences. When the body is stressed, there is often less activity happening in the pre-frontal cortex. Breathing and mindfulness can help us to bring our rational brain back online so that we make better decisions and cope more effectively.
Distress Tolerance: No one is immune to distress. Challenging and traumatic experiences can happen to anyone. Some people are able to manage big storms - where as others find navigating those storms impossible. Understanding what coping strategies work best for you and using them when things get rough, can make all the difference in how an individual copes. A DBT therapist can help you both identify the strategies you have historically used - but also possibly help you explore new strategies for dealing with life’s stressors.
Emotion Regulation: Emotion regulation is all about recognizing our emotional experience, labeling them, and understanding what these emotions are telling us about our needs and wants. It might sound simple, but often growing up, some emotions were not allowed… and we buried these emotions or replaced them with more “suitable” emotions. This might create situations where an individual might be unable to express anger or recognize fear. And when we don’t know what emotion we are feeling, it becomes challenging to get to the root cause of the problem. Emotion regulation also is about remembering what we each need to be doing in our lives so that we are less emotionally vulnerable on a day to day basis.
Interpersonal Effectiveness: This is one of my favorite DBT skill groups! How effective are you at both making and maintaining relationships? How do you set appropriate boundaries while still maintaining your self respect and the relationship? DBT places great emphasis on understanding our values so that we can use that knowledge to help us create better and more harmonious relationships. Through easy to follow hand outs, DBT helps the client understand how to communicate and act most effectively to get what they need in their relationships, while still living their values. But what I also appreciate about DBT is the understanding that even with the best skills in the world, some relationships might still be challenging. Identifying these relationships can be important so that we don’t continue to set ourselves up for negative outcomes.
For more Information on DBT, check out these resources