Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Do you feel your mind is being pulled in a hundred different directions at once? Do you have a hard time handling some of your emotions, and does this cause any problems in your relationships?
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) provides you the skills you need to cope with painful memories and intense emotions, and decrease conflicts in their relationships.
This modality focuses on 4 specific areas of therapeutic skills:
- Mindfulness – Helps you learn to be present in the current moment.
- Distress tolerance – Most people try and keep themselves safe from all negative emotions. Distress tolerance is geared toward increasing a your tolerance of intense emotional reactions.
- Emotion regulation – Teaches you strategies to manage intense emotions, which are are often the root cause of the presenting problems in your life, e.g. relationship, stress management.
- Interpersonal effectiveness – These techniques help you learn how to communicate with others in a more confident, assertive way that maintains your self-respect and strengthens your valuable relationships.
How Does it Work Exactly?
Many of us live our daily lives with a constant stream of uncontrollable intense emotions right under our awareness. These emotions affect how we feel about ourselves and how we interact with other people, including friends, romantic partners, and family members.
DBT essentially works with you to help them find ways to decrease the control these intense emotions have over you, so you can feel more balanced, in control, and able to communicate effectively. The message at the heart of DBT is acceptance and change.
Trauma-Informed Approach
We infuse DBT skills into our trauma recovery approach. DBT tools can help you learn how to cope with trauma triggers, regulate your nervous system, and live in the present moment. It’s an effective strategy supporting PTS recovery and improving overall quality of life.
