What Is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy?
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a modified type of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Its main goals are to teach people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others.
Core Mindfulness
One important benefit of DBT is the development of mindfulness skills. Mindfulness helps you focus on the present or “live in the moment.” This helps you pay attention to what is happening inside you (your thoughts, feelings, sensations, and impulses) as well as using your senses to tune in to what’s happening around you (what you see, hear, smell, and touch) in nonjudgmental ways.
Mindfulness skills help you slow down and focus on using healthy coping skills when you are in the midst of emotional pain. The strategy can also help you stay calm and avoid engaging in automatic negative thought patterns and impulsive behavior.
Distress Tolerance
Distress tolerance skills help you accept yourself and your current situation. DBT teaches several techniques for handling a crisis, including:
Distraction
Improving the moment
Self-soothing
Thinking of the pros and cons of not tolerating distress
Distress tolerance techniques help prepare you for intense emotions and empower you to cope with them with a more positive long-term outlook.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Interpersonal effectiveness helps you to become more assertive in a relationship (for example, expressing your needs and be able to say “no”) while still keeping a relationship positive and healthy. You will learn to listen and communicate more effectively, deal with challenging people, and respect yourself and others.
Emotion Regulation
Emotion regulation lets you navigate powerful feelings in a more effective way. The skills you learn will help you to identify, name, and change your emotions.6
When you are able to recognize and cope with intense negative emotions (for example, anger), it reduces your emotional vulnerability and helps you have more positive emotional experiences.