What Is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)?

DBT was created by Marsha Linehan initially for individuals with borderline personality disorder. DBT helps to teach you how to practice mindfulness, healthy ways to cope with and regulate emotions, and tools to improve your relationships with others.

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What can DBT help with?

• ADHD
• Bipolar
• Borderline personality disorder
• Anxiety/Generalized anxiety
• Phobias/fears
• Depression
• OCD
• PTSD
• Substance use

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The four modules of DBT

Mindfulness module:

• DBT mindfulness teaches you how to be present in the present moment using what and how skills. It helps you pay attention to both what you are feeling/thinking internally but also what is going around you as well.
• The goal of the mindfulness module is to help you stay in the present moment, choose to engage in healthier coping skills, and decrease rumination.
• Skills learned:
  • What & how skills of mindfulness
  • Wise mind

Distress Tolerance Module

• This module is broken down into 2 separate skills sets.
• Crisis survival skills
  • The crisis survival skills are used when you feel like you are in crisis. You can use them when you are having a panic attack or in other forms of a crisis such as urges to self-harm or addiction urges.
  • These skills help you when you feel like your emotions are too intense and provide you with healthier ways of coping.
  • These skills include Accepts, IMPROVE, self-soothing, and pros & cons.

Reality Acceptance Skills

• This part of skills teaches you radical acceptance. How to accept the past, or a current situation, that is outside of your control and unchangeable.
• It includes:
  • Radical acceptance
  • Turning the mind
  • Willing hands
  • Half smiling

Emotion Regulation Module

• This module of DBT will teach you tools to cope with your heightened emotions in a healthier way. It provides skills to help you challenge your emotions. It also provides tools on what to do if you cannot change the emotion.
  • Learning emotions
  • Checking the facts
  • Opposite action
  • ABC PLEASE

Interpersonal Effectiveness

• This module of DBT teaches you how to communicate assertively in your relationships, how to communicate in a healthier way, and how to respect both yourself and others.
• You learn the following skills:
  • DEARMAN
  • GIVE
  • FAST