Dialectical Behavior therapy (DBT) is a powerful form of psychotherapy that helps you work with your emotions, your thoughts and your behavior. It requires that you allow yourself to feel your experiences rather than run away from your feelings. DBT can thus at times be painful because you allow yourself to feel feelings you may have avoided in the past. However, the benefits of doing so are that you are able to accomplish objectives better, see situations more clearly and develop plans that are more effective.

In Dialectical Behavior therapy the “dialectics” concern the conflict between demands and wants and the “behavior” refers to having strategic goals which are compared with actions. In DBT you use your feelings to obtain goals in spite of obstacles. For example; a “dialectic” may be wanting to attend a social function because you are feeling lonely, yet avoiding social situations because of feeling nervous about meeting new people. A strategic “behavior” may be to ask someone you know to accompany you. 

DBT is an approach that can be used in individual therapy or in a group therapy modality. A DBT group is a psychoeducational method focused on teaching effective psychological coping skills. DBT focuses on feelings more than on thoughts and long-term goals more than immediate ones. It breaks situations into manageable steps so that it is clear what you are trying to accomplish and focuses on the here and now rather than what happened in the past. DBT group can be used as an adjunct to individual therapy.

In the group you will be asked to complete homework assignments between sessions. The purpose of the homework is to help you better understand the concepts, apply them to your individual situations and promote faster behavioral and emotional changes.

The group extends over a 12-week period with each session lasting 90 minutes. Because the content builds upon itself it is important to attend every session. The five components of the educational sessions are:

• Mindfulness Skills: Learning to be in the moment rather than always in your thoughts,
• Meaning Making Skills: Identifying what is really important to you so that your behavior and plans are tied to your values,
• Emotion Regulation Skills: Learning how to change emotions so that emotions that hurt you linger less and emotions that you enjoy linger longer,
• Distress Tolerance skills: Learning how to put up with emotions that hurt, but can’t be changed,
• Strategic Behavior Skills: Learning how to break problem situations down into small manageable steps that can be accomplished.

DBT is helpful for people who are highly sensitive emotionally and experience high emotional arousal, and slow reduction in emotional tension. It is also helpful for those who distrust their emotions. It is useful for those who seek emotional escape, avoid emotions and situations that may elicit them, and experience a sense of urgency when they experience their emotions which may then cause them to abuse substances, act impulsively, and express their emotions in an uncontrolled manner. DBT can assist you in regulating your emotions in order to meet your goals, help you to experience your feelings without a sense of fear, increase your sense of identity, improve your judgment, sharpen your ability to observe yourself and your circumstances, and reduce the sense of crisis in your life.