DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOR THERAPY (DBT)

For adults that need help managing big emotions.

WHAT IS DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOR THERAPY?

Do any of these sound familiar?

  • You get easily overwhelmed with intense emotions?

  • Your moods fluctuate rapidly and frequently?

  • You’re impulsive or engage in unhealthy behavior, especially when upset?

  • You struggle to maintain healthy relationships?

  • You’re sensitive to criticism or rejection?

  • You are self-critical and frequently don’t feel like you’re good enough?

If some or all of these scenarios sound familiar, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) might help since its emphasis is skill-building for lasting behavioral change. By utilizing powerful techniques, including mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal skill development, dialectical behavior therapy can help you break free from problematic behavioral, anxiety symptoms, and emotional patterns so you can enjoy life again and improve your mental health.

The treatment was first developed in the late 1980s by Marsha Linehan, later recognized by TIME magazine (2018) as one of the most influential scientists of our times. During her search for an effective treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD) she developed the most effective treatment to date for emotion dysregulation and the consequences of it. Over the past 30 years, studies have demonstrated DBT’s effectiveness for a variety of mental health challenges adults frequently struggle with, including borderline personality disorder.

With the goal of not only helping people survive crisis situations, but also helping them learn behaviors and skills to enjoy a “life worth living,” Dr. Linehan developed an approach founded on dialectics or simply said, balance. Dialectics is a way of explaining how two seemingly opposite things can be balanced or true. For example, most of us have experienced how we can “love” someone and they can also “drive us crazy” sometimes, one doesn’t discard the other they can both be true. By emphasizing balance, through both acceptance and change strategies, clinicians trained in dialectical behavior therapy are able to compassionately validate your experiences while moving you closer to change by helping you develop flexible thinking, emotional regulation skills, better emotional control, manage anxiety, and healthier behavior patterns.

IS DBT A GOOD FIT FOR YOU

DBT is a powerful therapy designed to help people better understand and manage their emotions, reduce impulsive or harmful behavior and improve their relationships with others. If you experience one or more of the following difficulties, DBT might be a good fit for you:

  • Emotional turmoil: You either experience painful emotions as intense and overwhelming or feel emotionally numb and disconnected trying to avoid emotions overall.

  • Relationship troubles: You struggle to maintain healthy relationships with loved ones and friends, often experiencing conflict, fear of abandonment and feeling lonely or misunderstood.

  • Mood swings: Your mood changes rapidly, leaving you oftentimes exhausted and feeling like you’re riding an emotional rollercoaster.

  • Low self-esteem: Your thoughts are self-critical, (“you’re not good enough,” “things will never change,” “there’s something wrong with you,”) which leave you feeling insecure, frustrated and trapped.

  • Impulsive or unhealthy behavior: You engage in unhealthy behavior patterns while desperately trying to change. You find yourself withdrawing from others, acting aggressively, using substance to manage your uncomfortable emotions and engaging in other risky behavior.

DBT can help people who have become extra sensitive to life's challenges and struggle to cope with their emotions due to various reasons. This often leads to higher stress and even more problems.

Because of their higher sensitivity and difficulty regulating strong emotions, they frequently face different forms of invalidation- intentional or unintentional- from their environment. For example, others might respond in a way that makes them feel “ashamed” of their response. Saying things as: “you don’t really feel that bad,” “it’s not such a big deal,” “you shouldn’t think/feel like that.”

As a result, individuals understandably become even more sensitive to failure, criticism and rejection while they don’t develop the skills they need to regulate their emotions in healthy ways. Getting further stuck in patterns of self-invalidation, shame and unhealthy behaviors. Dialectical behavior therapy helps them get unstuck as they learn skills to better manage their emotions with healthy behaviors

HOW DBT WORKS

DBT differs from other forms of supportive or behavioral therapy.

Through the use of acceptance and change strategies, DBT clinicians empower clients to move past problematic and ineffective behavior patterns towards healthy and effective coping. During the DBT treatment process, clients become:

  • Better able to tolerate stress and accept reality

  • More aware of their thoughts, emotions and urges through mindfulness skills

  • Better able to manage their emotions becoming more resilient

  • More skillful at managing interpersonal conflicts, increasing their self-respect and assertively stating their needs and boundaries

  • More willing to negotiate and better able to see all perspectives

The following elements are included in all Comprehensive DBT Programs:

  • Our DBT-trained clinicians will help you develop new skills to manage intense emotions so you can transform unhealthy behavior patterns, manage unwanted thoughts and regulate intense emotions. Sessions are held weekly for 45-50 min. over the course of treatment and follow adherent DBT principles.

  • This part of your treatment will be educational and taught within the context of a DBT group in a classroom-like setting. It leverages a research-based curriculum covering 24 skills divided into five modules. DBT Skills are taught in 90 minute weekly sessions over the course of 6-7 months. Skills modules include: mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and middle-path.

    Problematic behaviors develop as a way to cope with a situation or attempt to solve a problem. These behaviors might provide temporary relief or a short-term solutions for an individual; however, they often are not effective in the long-term.

    DBT skills therefore help individuals develop effective ways to navigate situations that arise in everyday life.

  • It might be hard to remember how to use the DBT skills you have learned during the course of treatment when you are in the middle of a crisis. To help you face challenges skillfully, your clinician will make themselves available seven days a week for brief phone calls. During these conversations, they’ll act as a coach- asking you about the skills you have tried and suggesting alternatives that may work better. The goal of these conversations is to help you generalize the DBT skills you’ve learned by applying them in-the-moment.

  • To enhance the DBT therapist’s capabilities, provide them with support and ensure treatment is delivered to adherence, each DBT therapist is required to be part of a consultation team. Your DBT trained therapist is on a DBT consultation team, which consists of other DBT clinicians that help support your treatment. That is, you will not only have one clinician working for you, but but a team of clinicians also trained in DBT to support you.

Schedule a free 20-minute call with our care coordinator.

*It’s important to be aware that some providers or programs report doing DBT but are not trained in comprehensive DBT or don’t include all the above mentioned components in treatment. Teaching some DBT skills as part of individual treatment is not considered Comprehensive DBT.

If a provider offers DBT, and this is what you’re looking for, make sure all four components of treatment are included and your provider is trained in DBT by a reputable source. At the moment, the only credentialing board recognized to certify clinicians is the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification.

A beautiful view of a beach at sunrise

Dr. Maribel Gonzalez
Licensed Psychologist
Clinical Director

DBT-LBC, Certified Clinician

Dr. Maribel Gonzalez is a DBT specialist.

In the early stages of her career, Maribel Gonzalez served as a therapist at a psychiatric hospital, where she dedicated herself to patients struggling with emotional dysregulation. Recognizing that the well-being of these at-risk individuals often hinged on the therapeutic support they received, Maribel was acutely aware of the gravity of her role.

Frustration set in when conventional behavioral therapy methods proved ineffective in alleviating her patients' distress. It was at this point that Maribel's journey led her to dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a therapeutic approach renowned for its effectiveness. Driven by her unwavering commitment to helping those grappling with intense emotions, she embarked on a quest for knowledge and skills.

Eager to master DBT and provide the best care possible, Maribel completed basic and advanced DBT training courses offered by Behavioral Tech, an organization founded by Marsha Linehan, the originator of DBT.

With her newfound expertise in DBT, Maribel witnessed the transformative power of this evidence-based model. She firmly believes the life skills acquired through DBT therapy are nothing short of life-changing.

If nothing else has helped you…

If you’ve tried other forms of therapy and nothing provided lasting relief, you’re probably feeling frustrated and hopeless, and that’s okay. Despite any previous setbacks, you can still create a life worth living. If you’re ready to learn new skills and better align yourself with your values and goals, we can help. Contact our care coordinator for a free, 20-minute consultation to find out whether we’re a good fit for you.

Getting started is easy…

STEP ONE

Schedule a call.

You’ll visit with our care coordinator during a quick 20-minute call.

STEP TWO

Get matched.

We’ll learn about your needs and answer your questions so we can connect you with the right therapist for you!

STEP THREE

Book your first session.

We’ll guide you to fill out a few forms and get your first appointment on the calendar so you can start feeling better!