What Is DBT?

                   DBT is short for Dialectical Behavior Therapy. This is a specialized type of therapy that requires intensive post-graduate training by the therapists who offer it (all the therapists at ADBTA are continuing to receive this extensive post-graduate training). Dialectical Behavior Therapy is recognized as an evidence-based practice by the American Psychiatric Association.

 

                  DBT is an effective treatment for helping people to manage the intensity of emotions and impulsive behavioral patterns that are causing fall out and disrupting the quality of their daily lives. What DBT does best is that it teaches skills that are not confined to a clinician’s office. These skills generalize to every aspect of your world (work, school, home, friends, family, etc.). At its heart, DBT is the relentless pursuit of problem-solving.

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                  Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) provides clients with new skills to manage painful emotions and decrease conflict in relationships. DBT specifically focuses on providing therapeutic skills in four key areas. First, mindfulness focuses on improving an individual's ability to accept and be present in the current moment. Second, distress tolerance is geared toward increasing a person’s tolerance of negative emotion, rather than trying to escape from it. Third, emotion regulation covers strategies to manage and change intense emotions that are causing problems in a person’s life. Fourth, interpersonal effectiveness consists of techniques that allow a person to communicate with others in a way that is assertive, maintains self-respect, and strengthens relationships.

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How do I know if DBT is for me?

              We have provided DBT training to many different groups (schools/teachers, courts/lawyers, healthcare professionals, etc.). One of the things we hear the most from our trainees is, “DBT skills are something that we all need!” Our participants report they are pleasantly surprised that everyone and anyone can benefit from these skills.

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How is DBT any different than any other type of treatment?

One of the common frustrations with traditional therapy is feeling like you gain insight during sessions but that doesn’t translate into behavioral change outside of session. DBT clinicians are committed to helping their clients shape the intensity, frequency and duration of emotions and behaviors that are interfering with building their own lives worth living. We are actually MORE focused on what happens outside of treatment than in it! The people who come to us most often are those who have felt frustrated by not making progress in previous treatments.

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Why should I come to Soul Discovery to receive DBT?

A lot of people say they do DBT but they don’t offer all the aspects of DBT that randomized controlled trials have shown make it an evidence based practice. There are four aspects of DBT included in the evidence-based trials that allow DBT to be effective:

• INDIVIDUAL THERAPY

• SKILLS TRAINING

• PHONE COACHING

• THERAPIST CONSULTATION TEAM

Our mission is to offer quality DBT at an affordable cost. Therefore, we make sure we offer these services on a sliding scale.

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