Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) has been proven effective in treating or reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and other mental health diagnoses. DBT helps to alleviate symptoms through increasing tolerance to distress, improving management of intense emotions, increasing interpersonal effectiveness, and increasing the ability to be mindful of thoughts and feelings without latching onto them.
The primary objective of this therapy group is to assist participants in developing coping skills that decrease the intensity of experiences that trigger the “fight, flight or freeze response.” Our goal is to educate group participants about how emotional dysregulation, and resulting stress, can show up in our bodies and impact our overall functioning. Through increased awareness and coping skills education, participants can learn to decrease their emotional response, and experience of distress, to challenging situations.
What is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral treatment that focuses heavily on mindfulness and experiencing life as it is as opposed to how we would like it to be. DBT was developed by Marsha Linehan in the early 1990s to treat chronically suicidal individuals, many of whom were diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.
A dialectic is when two opposing things are true at the same time. In DBT, the primary dialectic is between acceptance of a person as they are while also acknowledging the need for change in order to improve an individual’s circumstances and well-being.
Mindfulness skills
Mindfulness is a quality of awareness to the present moment that involves accepting, not judging and doing what is effective. It is a way of living with our eyes wide open vs simply reacting through learned behaviors and assumptions.
Interpersonal effectiveness skills
The goal of Interpersonal Effectiveness is to increase our ability to get our needs meet in a relationship while maintaining our self-respect and the relationship. Additional skills include developing and maintaining relationships, decreasing interpersonal isolation and balancing acceptance and change in a relationship.
Distress tolerance skills
Distress Tolerance is the skill of simply getting through the moment without doing anything to make the situation worse until our emotions have subsided enough to do what is needed to help regulate our emotions and then address the issue at hand.
Emotion regulation skills
Emotion Regulation is a set of skills designed to help us assess what emotion(s) we are experiencing, to determine if the emotion fit the facts of the situation and then proceed mindfully by either changing, tolerating or coping with our current emotional state.
Upcoming Cycle: Starting Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Interpersonal Effectiveness: 6-week Program Details
Sessions will be virtual and held weekly on Tuesday, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Cost: Most insurance is accepted. Our behavioral health coordinators will verify your insurance benefits and explain any out-of-pocket costs prior to you attending the first group.
We also offer affordable self-pay rates of $40 per session.
To get started, enroll via primary care provider or therapist referral, call 984.263.0846, or send an email to [email protected].