You can’t always eliminate or completely avoid daily stressors that trigger intense feelings. You may not be able to avoid your morning commute, for example, or the stress of dealing with family at the holidays. But you can learn different ways to cope with marijuana addiction stress and tolerate distressing emotions.
What Does DBT Treat?
Your therapist will help you learn how to have more joy in your life. This stage focuses on setting goals in your personal or professional life, building stronger relationships, and improving your self-esteem. «Dialectical» is the idea that two different things can be true at once. So this type of therapy is centered on helping you accept yourself as you are while also trying to change. Depending on your circumstances, DBT can have a profound impact on your mental health.
Core mindfulness
DBT is used to help those who struggle with depression, binge eating disorder, bipolar disorder, bulimia, PTSD, and substance use disorders. Research has found that beyond BPD, dialectical behavior therapy has been shown to help reduce suicidal behavior in adults. Studies show DBT also reduces self-harming behavior and suicide attempts in teens. Once a week, you talk with your therapist to learn how to apply DBT skills to specific challenges and situations in your own life.
Behavioral Tech: Revolutionizing Mental Health Treatment with DBT
Dialectical Behavior Therapy provides you with lasting benefits that can significantly improve your mental health. Dialectical behavior therapy is a combination of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), humanism, and dialectics. While some parts of DBT focus on a person’s past, the primary focus is to help people get better. Patients have the final say in everything that happens in treatment. DBT is also sometimes delivered as part of more intensive treatment programs, like residential or partial hospitalization day programs. Mindfulness, or giving your full attention to the current moment, has been shown to benefit both physical and mental health.
How does dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) work?
Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is a form of therapy often used to treat a variety of mental health conditions such as borderline personality disorder. DBT is a structured, skills based therapy that helps you manage intense emotions and cope with challenging situations. Since its development in the late 1980s, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has grown into one of the most widely used and well-researched approaches for treating emotional dysregulation. Created to support people with borderline personality disorder, DBT has been successfully adapted for many other mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is an effective, evidence-based treatment for people who suffer from emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, chronic suicidality, and unstable relationships.
Borderline Personality Disorder Resources
- We can observe that too much focus on change results in clients feeling misunderstood and that their suffering is invalid.
- Linehan refers to these four skills as the “active ingredients” of DBT.
- This module helps you understand and manage emotions, especially when they feel overwhelming.
CBT is structured, short-term, goal-oriented, and focuses on the present. It begins with education about the disorder and how it affects the person. For example, a 2014 study looked at how 47 people with BPD responded to DBT. After a year of treatment, 77 percent no longer met the diagnostic criteria for BPD.
Get Expert DBT Support at TLA Therapy
DBT helps those with BPD by teaching them how to regulate emotions and increase their tolerance to distressing situations. DBT therapists will work to create an environment that is free of judgment, enabling patients to accept themselves and their challenges while also working towards positive and deliberate change. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a powerful, evidence-based treatment designed to help you dialectical behavioral therapy manage emotions, improve relationships, and foster long-term healing. Learn how DBT works, who it’s for, and what to expect from both individual and group therapy sessions. Many insurance plans cover DBT, as it is a well-established, evidence-based treatment for a range of mental health conditions. To understand available benefits, it is helpful to contact the insurance provider directly.
Distress Tolerance
It’s important to understand the difference between DBT and standard talk therapy in context. This module teaches patients practical, useful mindfulness techniques to gain valuable insight into their habitual patterns of emotion and thought. The insight patients develop practicing mindfulness helps them manage emotions and thoughts that are disruptive.


