Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills
Depression, Anxiety, Self-Harm, Suicidality
DBT is a form of behavior therapy that is heavily skills based and aims to help you regulate difficult or overwhelming emotions. It was developed by Marsha Linehan specifically for those struggling to cope with Borderline Personality Disorder, suicide, and self-harm. However, it has since been shown to be effective for a wide variety of other presenting concerns.
"Full" DBT is a specialization which requires skills groups and coaching in conjunction with individual therapy. I offer DBT skills work, which focuses on learning critical coping skills based in distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness.
DBT is often beneficial if you need or want structure to your therapy and if you struggle with regulating intense emotions. Often, individuals who struggle with regulating their emotions try to cope in a variety of ways that become unhealthy over time, such a eating, drugs, self-harm, sex, relationships, etc. DBT aims to help you develop new coping tools to replace the old ineffective ways of managing difficult emotions.
“It is hard to be happy without a life worth living. This is a fundamental tenet of DBT. Of course, all lives are worth living, in reality. No life is not worth living. But what is important is that you experience your life as worth living—one that is satisfying, and one that brings happiness.”