Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Over the years, Americans have known happiness, and they have known sorrow. Generally, the good memories outweigh the bad. And most people have been able to push through illnesses and past addictions to live happy, healthy lives.
However, in the wake of more recent events, medical professionals and therapists have noted a concerning increase in dangerous and sometimes problematic behaviors.
As a result, medical facilities have begun a systematic review of individuals and how they regulate emotions.
Even though some studies are still ongoing, at the present moment, what medical professionals have found is a cause for concern.
Considering the last five years alone, stress levels and mental health conditions have risen. Millions of American citizens of all ages, backgrounds, nationalities, and genders struggle with suicidal ideation, high-stress levels, fear, increased anxiety, even eating disorders and substance abuse! Researchers have found that Americans are struggling heavily due to a general lack of emotion regulation skills and an increase in frequent intense negative emotions. Even early childhood development impacts our adult capacity to cope with negative feelings and situations.
The rise in intense daily stressors and decline in community mental health is scary and overwhelming to consider for many people.
But there is hope!
There is Effective Treatment to Help People Heal
As data, theoretical and empirical observations by medical teams across the country continue to wage on. Researchers have found that people can heal even with rising cases of addiction and other mental health conditions.
Addiction, bulimia nervosa, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a binge eating disorder, or even a generalized anxiety disorder are all conditions that can be managed with individual therapy and group skills training.
Now, of course, the approach to treating each condition will be different, based on the individual and the issues they are personally wrestling with. Still, in the end, there is a path to recovery out there for everyone. Mental health issues may not be curable diseases, but they are treatable. And there are many different types of therapeutic methods and therapists out there that can help.
Today, there is one behavior therapy in particular that we would like to discuss. And that is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).
What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy?
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a handy tool used to treat various disorders and conditions. A form of talk therapy derived from cognitive behavior therapy, a DBT mental health professional works to guide clients through their intense emotions to gain understanding.
The more the individual understands how and why their emotion regulation has fallen apart, the more ready they become to dive into radical acceptance and healing.
As adults, we must take responsibility for our actions and how we respond to events.
Radically accepting our role in allowing negative emotions to control our lives allows us to fully embrace DBT sessions to pursue recovery and live a happier, healthier life again.
DBT therapists work to counteract self-destructive behaviors to help their clients build self-respect. In DBT training, the individual therapist will help clients embrace positive emotions while building mindfulness skills and other coping mechanisms.
As far as talk therapies go, dialectical behavior therapy is one of the best coping skills training interventions.
Additionally, it is also multifaceted and can be used in many different mental health treatments.
What is DBT Skills Training Used to Treat?
Initially, DBT techniques were made for treating borderline personality disorder. However, as behavioral tech and research became available to therapists, DBT quickly became an evidence-based treatment for chronically suicidal borderline patients and opioid-dependent women and men.
DBT Was Initially Designed to Treat Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
As a comprehensive validation therapy, with plenty of treatment outcome literature written on its effectiveness, dialectical behavior therapy is good at teaching distress tolerance skills while steering people away from self-harm and other effects of chronic mental health issues.
Yet, even though a DBT therapist can sing praises of dialectical behavior therapy for hours.
It is important to note that DBT treatment is not meant to be the only therapy session a client works through.
Despite DBT’s effectiveness, mindfulness relies heavily on becoming a well-rounded, self-aware individual. The more capable you become at noticing the world around you without letting it affect your mindset or emotions, the better off you are. However, even though mindfulness, in theory, sounds like an easy thing to achieve, it can be challenging to master. Thus, why in clinical trials, DBT skills (like other forms of therapeutic intervention) were determined to be most useful in a grouped treatment program.
Clients can engage with a DBT therapist in group and individual therapy settings in programs like these. While also gaining the opportunity to have skills taught to them through other therapeutic means.
DBT for Treating Drug and Alcohol Dependence
Even though dialectical behavior therapy was initially meant to treat borderline personality disorder, DBT techniques have been found helpful in treating various mental health problems. From eating disorders to self-harm. And then suicidal behavior to suicide attempts and addiction.
Dialectical behavior therapy can help treat them all!
And as residential rehab centers in Florida continue to explore the uses of DBT treatment. More and more people are becoming aware of and using dialectical behavior therapy modalities and mindfulness skills to help them cope and heal daily.
Drug and alcohol addiction treatments are multifaceted. In modern rehab centers, holistic and innovative healing is the driving force that guides the recovery principles and practices that help so many people heal today. Substance abuse rehab is not just about tucking someone into a corner until they detox off alcohol or a specific drug(s).
Inpatient rehabilitation is about restructuring a person’s entire way of living and thinking to re-enter society as capable, productive, happy members of their communities.
The Skills Training Manual for Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Even though the use of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is on the rise. In drug and alcohol addiction treatment, this form of group or individual therapy is not the only rehab practice to be used.
Like other forms of talk therapy, dialectical behavior therapy is best used when it is tailored to meet the needs of a specific individual and the case they wrestle with. Thus, as a result, DBT treatments can be broken down to work in several different ways.
There are four main treatment points of DBT. Each of these points aims to improve an individual’s coping and behavioral skills.
The dialectical treatment modalities and focuses include:
- Interpersonal effectiveness
- Emotional regulation
- Distress tolerance
- Mindfulness
Each of these modalities is taught in a roughly six-week period.
As the sessions progress, the therapist works to effectively build a client’s coping skills to include all four of these protective healing strategies. Once a client gains a firm grasp on using one modality, another is added to the treatment regimen. This process continues until the client can use all four skills to help them withstand sobriety in their daily lives.
Such distress tolerance and coping skills can be taught in individual or group settings.
And, of course, clients are not expected to master all four behavioral skills straight away.
Recovery and Dialectical Behavior Therapy Can Look Different in Everyone
Healing takes time. And, like other things in life, some DBT modalities will work better for some clients than others.
Having a working grasp on all four skill sets will help a client achieve a more prosperous, productive, and happy recovery.
Still, an individual may favor using one modality more often than another. In addiction treatment, dialectical behavorial therapy helps treat every aspect of an individual’s emotional and mental hangups.
Targeting specific skills like emotional self-regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, communication, and mindfulness helps clients find balance. It helps prepare these individuals to take on the stresses of everyday life without turning to substance abuse for comfort. And this further propels them along the recovery journey, allowing them to integrate back into society with more ease.
Is DBT the Same as Cognitive Behavioral Treatment?
A staple in most addiction rehab programs, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of talking therapeutic intervention. Although dialectical behavior therapy is derived from CBT, DBT and cognitive therapies differ slightly in the use of treatment modalities and their overall focus.
Where CBT aims to have clients, analyze how their thoughts and actions make them feel to change.
On the other hand, DBT focuses on understanding your emotions and how they influence your actions, helping people change by better understanding their emotional selves.
The Interpersonal Effectiveness of Different DBT Skills Modules in Clinical Psychology
DBT therapies are all about learning to understand and accept your complicated feelings while also working to cope with them in healthier, more productive ways.
Like cognitive-behavioral treatments, dialectical behavior therapy is taught within a set schedule of talk therapeutic sessions in rehab and other clinical settings. But DBT’s treatment modalities can be used in much more flexible ways outside of rehab. Some of the most common methods for individuals to boost their interpersonal effectiveness, mindfulness, and stress relief skills outside of therapy include:
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Caring for pets
- Practicing new skills and hobbies
Recovery is not a linear process. Some people will find it a greater help to focus on growing their mindfulness skills. And others will find it more helpful to use movement to ease themselves in stressful situations.
In the end, DBT therapy can be good for various conditions and people to use to heal.
DBT Mindfulness as a Treatment Modality
Learning to use dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) modalities for daily balance regulation and stress management can make or break a client’s go at sobriety.
Of course, if they relapse, they are always welcomed back into rehab until they can get on their feet again. But staying true to the DBT modalities can help many clients avoid an encounter with relapse altogether. There are four DBT modalities; distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal communication, and mindfulness.
Mindfulness in DBT is the practice of being intentionally present and fully aware of oneself and their surroundings at any given moment.
Reading it like that may make mindfulness sound stressful. But in reality, mindfulness is a critical skill that DBT therapists will teach their clients, to help them acknowledge, accept, and tolerate any powerful or overwhelming emotion. Training in dialectical behavior therapy is not the same as mindfulness meditation.
However, clients can use meditation practices to help center themselves better in their present circumstances.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy at St. John’s Recovery Place
Mindfulness meditation is a process conducted by an individual to help relax. DBT mindfulness is a tool an individual uses to be more aware of their surroundings. At St. John’s Recovery Place (SJRP), clients can use both DBT and mindfulness meditation training to help them recover from a drug or alcohol use disorder.
With mindfulness, substance abuse recoveries learn to accept and tolerate everyday emotions.
With this tool in hand, individuals can learn to conquer situations they encounter. Thus, allowing them to master control of their emotions by mentally slowing down and recognizing what may overwhelm them. They learn to accept and let go of negative feelings and focus on positive thought patterns and healthy coping practices.
At SJRP, holistic healing is at the center of all we do. Helping you learn to control your thoughts, emotions, and actions through dialectical behavior practices and other therapies. SJRP aims to help you heal in mind, body, and spirit. If you want to know more about St. John’s and its DBT approach, you can call us today at 1-833-397-3422. Or visit us online here.
Your healing is just around the corner!
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