DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOR THERAPY

The skills you learn in our Dialectical Behavior Therapy treatment can be transferred for use in your regular life.

OVERVIEW

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and

Wise Mind

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a structured program of psychotherapy with a strong educational, skills-building component designed to provide skills for managing intense emotions and negotiating social relationships.

DBT is a comprehensive and multifaceted therapy designed to help patients cope with extreme emotional suffering and, often, self-injurious behavior.
Many patients seeking DBT have undergone other forms of therapy without experiencing significant improvement.
DBT is a complex treatment modality that recognizes the constant flux of feelings—many of them contradictory—without having to get caught up in them.

WITH WISE MIND SKILLS

WITHOUT WISE MIND SKILLS

HOW DBT WORKS

DBT specifically focuses on providing therapeutic and social-emotional health skills in four key areas.

Mindfulness (Wise Mind) enables individuals to observe current moment by noting the fleeting nature of emotions, which diminishes the power of emotions to direct their actions.
Increases distress tolerance, the ability to tolerate negative emotion rather than depressing or reacting to emotions in ways that make things worse (yelling, binging, pleasing, etc.).
Emotion regulation strategies give individuals the power to notice, understand and transform intense emotions.
Teaches techniques of interpersonal effectiveness, allowing a person to communicate with others in a way that maintains self-respect, clear and strengthens relationships; a core principle is that learning how to ask directly for what you want and need (including needed boundaries) which diminishes resentment and hurt feelings.

WHAT DBT TREATS

With its strong emphasis on emotion regulation skills, DBT is finding application as a treatment for a wide range of mental health conditions. They include:

Emotion dysregulation
Anger management issues
Personality disorders, including borderline personality disorder
Self-harm
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Complex-PTSD (relational and/or developmental)
Bulimia
Binge-eating disorder
Depression
Anxiety
Substance use disorder
Bipolar disorder

Depression
Anxiety
Mood issues
Obsessions and compulsions (OCD)
Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD)

DBT is used to treat many mental health issues. But as with any type of therapy, benefits are greatest when people commit fully to learning and practicing emotional regulation skills. While studies of DBT have documented improvement within a year of treatment, particularly in controlling self-harmful behavior, patients may require therapy for several years.

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