WHAT IS DBT ?
If you’ve ever struggled with regulating your emotions or communicating effectively in your relationships, you might find Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to be a helpful tool for you. DBT is a type of structured therapy that provides practical skills to manage big emotions, navigate difficult life situations, and cultivate healthier relationships.
Based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), it utilizes cognitive strategies such as identifying and challenging unhelpful thought patterns while also incorporating tools like validating emotions and acceptance and mindfulness training. A fundamental concept of DBT is dialectical thinking, the idea that two opposite things can be true at the same time. Instead of getting lost in black and white thinking, it encourages people to see there are multiple ways to view challenging situations. It also proposes the idea that people can accept their current life circumstances while working toward making positive behavior changes.
DBT focuses on helping people develop skills in four key areas:
Mindfulness: Encourages being present and accepting emotions and life circumstances.
Distress Tolerance: Focuses on learning to manage crisis situations and developing healthier ways of self-soothing.
Emotion Regulation: Centers on understanding and managing emotions instead of being controlled by them.
Interpersonal Effectiveness: Involves identifying needs in relationships and learning how to effectively communicate with others and set boundaries.
DBT was originally created by psychologist Marsha Linehan in the 1970s and 1980s to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD) and chronic suicidal ideation. However, it has been modified over the years to treat a variety of mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), eating disorders, self-harming behaviors, and substance use disorders. In general, it can be useful for anyone struggling to manage and regulate intense emotions.
The major benefits of DBT include:
1. Greater Emotional Stability - DBT helps you regulate your emotions which can over time help you build a more balanced emotional state. From this more balanced state, you can make decisions using a “wise mind” where you take into account both your emotions and logical reasoning, leading to healthier choices.
2. Increased Resilience - By developing coping strategies, DBT helps you learn to handle setbacks and challenges more effectively.
3. Self-Acceptance - DBT helps increase your self-esteem and compassion for yourself. Through mindfulness practices, you can learn to accept who you are which makes it easier to make positive changes in your life compared to constantly criticizing yourself.
4. Reduction of Self-Destructive Behaviors - DBT helps decrease harmful behaviors such as self-harm, addiction, and impulsivity through structured techniques, particularly those found in distress tolerance skills, which provides healthy ways to cope with charged emotions and crises.
5. Improved Relationships - DBT strengthens your communication and interpersonal skills which in turn helps you create healthier and more fulfilling connections with others.
Some drawbacks of DBT are:
1. Time-Intensive - DBT can require a significant commitment, often involving both individual and group therapy on a weekly basis and homework. This can be a lot to manage on top of working and juggling many life responsibilities.
2. Many Skills and Highly Structured - The amount of DBT skills there are to learn may overwhelm some people and deter them from trying it. In addition, the highly structured nature of DBT may not suit those who prefer a more flexible therapy approach.
3. Can Be Emotionally Challenging - DBT involves acknowledging heavy emotions and difficult life experiences which can be uncomfortable and lead to temporary emotional distress in the beginning of treatment.
4. May Be Ineffective for Treating Trauma - While DBT can help with emotional regulation, it does not specifically include formal trauma processing tools. Therefore, people with significant trauma may need additional therapy approaches to address root causes of their trauma.
5. Not Always Accessible - Finding a highly skilled and trained DBT therapist can be difficult, as clinicians must undergo extensive training and supervision, minimizing the availability of providers.
Overall, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) offers an effective approach to improve your ability to emotionally regulate and healthily communicate in relationships. While it requires commitment and may not suit everyone, it can create positive change for those who find this modality beneficial.