Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy developed by Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D. It was originally designed to treat Borderline Personality Disorder and individuals with severe emotional and behavioral dysregulation such as self-injury, suicidality, substance use, and/or eating disorders.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a cognitive behavioral therapy that includes principles of mindfulness to help clients build a life worth living through acceptance and change strategies. This comprehensive treatment offers skills to manage painful memories and emotions and decrease conflicts in their relationships via four specific skill areas.

• Mindfulness – Helps individuals be present in the current moment.
• Distress tolerance – Distress tolerance is geared toward increasing a person’s tolerance to intense negative emotion.
• Emotion regulation – Offers strategies to manage emotions that are the root cause of problems in a person’s life as well as strategies to achieve their goals.
• Interpersonal effectiveness – These techniques allow an individual to communicate with others in a confident, assertive way that maintains self-respect and strengthens relationships.

DBTICI offers both Adolescent DBT and Adult DBT programs. For a list of recommended readings that dive deep into DBT, check out my recommended readings page. 

Below are two short videos that describe DBT.