Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills Review

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a subset of CBT that was originally developed for women with Borderline Personality Disorder. It has now expanded as a treatment for adults and teens who have experienced trauma or have more severe symptoms such as suicidal thoughts or self-harm.

DBT involves a weekly group therapy as well as individual therapy that usually lasts for about 6 months. Sometimes, people complete DBT in a residential, PHP, or IOP program. The program is skills-based and teaches four modules (five for teens) of many different tools that people can use to tackle big emotions and learn to take on stressful situations without harming themselves or others.

I received DBT training during graduate school and in my postdoctoral fellowship. I personally love the skill set. I am not part of a full scale DBT program. What I can offer is skills review for someone who has already completed a DBT program, achieved success, and now needs to move on to treatment of another condition in my wheelhouse (for example, an anxiety disorder, OCD, BDD, ARFID). It is nice to find a therapist who understands DBT and can guide it when those skills continue to be needed in day-to-day situations.