Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a form of talk therapy, that is a “new wave”  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Developed in the 1980s by psychologist Marsha Linehan, this therapeutic approach was originally designed to treat individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), those struggling with intense emotional responses, and individuals at risk of self-harm or suicidal ideation. (1) Over time, it has proven effective for a wide range of mental health concerns – such as trauma, eating disorders, grief and loss, and living with medical conditions.

Today, Dialectical Behavior Therapy serves as a prevention model taught in schools that helps children and teens develop the building blocks of coping skills at an early age. (2).

What Can DBT Help With?

This Evidenced-Based therapeutic mode; is used to treat a broad range of mental health conditions, including:

1. Depression
2. Anxiety
3. ADHD
4. Bipolar Disorder
5. PTSD and trauma
6. Eating Disorders
7. Substance Abuse
8. Grief & Los

Each of these conditions involves challenges in managing emotions or coping with difficult life situations. DBT offers tools to help individuals regain control and improve their quality of life. Let’s explore how this approach can help with specific concerns.

Coping with Trauma

Trauma can significantly impact one’s mental health, leading to symptoms like hypervigilance, emotional numbness, and flashbacks. This therapeutic method allows individuals to acquire new coping strategies in a safe, therapeutic environment.

Key techniques for trauma recovery include:

1. Grounding exercises: Helping individuals reconnect to the present moment.
2. Mindfulness: Enabling awareness of feelings without judgment.
3. Trauma processing: Allowing the individual to work through traumatic memories safely.

These skills help build resilience, enabling individuals to better manage trauma triggers when they arise.

Managing Emotions

For those who experience intense emotions, learning to regulate emotions is crucial. This therapeutic approach teaches individuals to recognize, understand, and manage emotions effectively. The following are some ways it helps:

1. Mindfulness: Paying attention to emotional responses without being overwhelmed.
2. Distress tolerance: Learning to navigate difficult emotions without impulsive reactions.
3. Acceptance: Acknowledging emotions instead of avoiding or suppressing them.

DBT as a treatment teaches people that feeling emotions is natural, but responding to them skillfully can improve overall emotional health.

Improving Self-Confidence

Low self-esteem and self-worth are common among those with mental health conditions. This therapeutic approach works to rebuild self-confidence by providing a structured, supportive environment for individuals to improve their mental well-being.

Key aspects include:

1. Skills training: Helping individuals gain confidence in handling everyday challenges.
2. Self-respect: Encouraging people to value themselves regardless of mistakes or setbacks.
3. Supportive relationships: Emphasizing developing positive, supportive  relationships that foster one’s sense of self-worth.

Through this process, individuals can feel empowered to navigate life challenges, building their self-esteem and confidence along the way.

Improving Relationships

Interpersonal difficulties are common, especially among those with emotional regulation issues. This approach enhances relationships by teaching key communication and conflict-resolution skills.

Core skills for improving relationships include:

1. Active listening: Fully engaging in conversations and understanding others’ perspectives.
2. Assertiveness: Communicating needs and boundaries respectfully.
3. Validation: Acknowledging and validating both your own feelings and the feelings of others.

These techniques enable individuals to foster healthier relationships, reducing interpersonal conflicts and creating more supportive social connections.

Managing Chronic Conditions

DBT is effective not just for acute mental health crises but also for managing chronic conditions such as chronic depression and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD),and even chronic medical conditions. For improving coping with chronic mental health or medical conditions, DBT provides a range of tools:

1. Emotional regulation: Learning how to manage and understand emotions over time.
2. Distress tolerance: Coping with persistent symptoms in a healthy way.
3. Mindfulness: Maintaining present-moment awareness to reduce suffering.

DBT helps individuals experiencing pervasive personality build long-term coping mechanisms, improving their quality of life. Individuals with chronic medical conditions utilize mind-body techniques and coping mechanisms so that emotional stress does not exacerbate their condition.

Key Skills Learned in Sessions

One of the most significant features of this therapeutic method is its focus on practical skills. DBT skills are designed to help individuals navigate intense emotions, improve relationships, and handle distressing situations in healthier ways. The following are four main areas of skill development:

Core Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the foundational skill in this method. It encourages individuals to focus on the present moment, acknowledging their thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment.

Mindfulness skills include:

1. Observing: Paying attention to experiences without reacting to them.
2. Describing: Labeling feelings or thoughts without analyzing or judging them.
3. Participating: Fully engaging in activities without distractions.

By developing mindfulness, individuals can learn to tolerate difficult emotions and focus their attention on what matters most in the present moment.

Distress Tolerance

Distress tolerance skills help individuals survive crises without resorting to self-destructive behaviors or impulsive actions. Several techniques are taught, including:

1. Self-soothing: Using the five senses to calm down during emotional storms.
2. Distraction: Shifting focus away from overwhelming feelings by engaging in alternative activities.
3. Pros and cons: Weighing the potential outcomes of different actions to make better decisions.
4. Radical acceptance: Acknowledging reality, even when it’s painful or difficult.

These skills help individuals manage intense distress while avoiding harmful behaviors or emotional shutdowns.

Interpersonal Effectiveness

This skill is all about building healthy relationships. It involves improving communication skills, managing conflicts, and enhancing empathy. Individuals are taught how to:

1. Express needs clearly: Communicate your desires and boundaries in a direct and respectful way.
2. Say no effectively: Set and maintain boundaries without feeling guilty.
3. Validate others: Acknowledge the feelings of others and make them feel heard and understood.

Developing these skills enables individuals to navigate social situations with confidence and strengthen their relationships.

Emotional Regulation

Emotional regulation skills help individuals manage overwhelming emotions and reframed negative emotional experiences. These skills include:

1. Identifying emotions: Recognizing what you’re feeling and why.
2. Increasing positive emotions: Finding ways to enhance feelings of joy and satisfaction.
3. Decreasing emotional vulnerability: Learning strategies to prevent intense emotional reactions.

Through emotional regulation, individuals are empowered to control their emotional responses and create a more stable emotional experience.

At Resilience DBT & Eating Recovery, we believe in the power of this therapeutic approach to help individuals and families build emotional resilience and recover from eating disorders. Our compassionate team of skilled therapists has dual expertise in treating eating disorders and a variety of mental health conditions, including anxiety disorders, mood disorders, trauma, and grief/loss.

We understand that the journey to recovery can be uniquely challenging, especially for parents supporting a child through mental health or eating disorder recovery. That’s why our Comprehensive DBT program is designed to provide both you and your child with the necessary tools to develop essential coping skills, foster emotional regulation, and promote lasting recovery.

Whether you an Adult or Young Adult seeking help with a serious mental health condition or you wish early intervention for your adolescent, reach out to Resilience Therapy today to learn more about our DBT programs. We are committed to supporting your family in unlocking your unique strengths and achieving a lasting recovery journey.

Contact us today to start your path toward emotional resilience. We are here to help.

Sources:

Linehan, Marsha M. Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. Guilford Press, 1993.

Mazza, James L.; Dexter-Mazza, Elizabeth T; Miller, Alec L.; et al, DBT in Schools: Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents (DBT Steps-A). Guildford Press, 2016

Rizvi, S. L., et al. “The Role of Emotion in Psychopathology and Dialectical Behavior Therapy.” Journal of Personality Disorders, vol. 26, no. 4, 2012, pp. 596-613.