Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is evidence based treatment for individuals who struggle to control intense emotions. DBT helps individuals build a life worth living by teaching mindfulness, crisis survival skills (also known as distress tolerance skills), emotion regulation, and interpersonal skills. Treatment is typically a combination of individual work and group work, as well as phone coaching outside of session. It involves not only changing problematic behavior and negative coping skills, but also changing thinking patterns and the environment around us.
DBT may be right for you if you:
- Struggle to control intense and often painful emotions
- Engage in self harm
- Explode or cry often
- Take longer to feel like yourself again after an intense emotion
- Destroy relationships or have trouble building them
- Have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder
- Do not have the skills to effectively navigate triggering situations