DBT THERAPY SACRAMENTO
Do persistent thoughts, feelings, or habits make it seem like you’ve lost control of your life?
And no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to change things.
Maybe your thoughts about yourself get in the way of being intimate with your partner.
Maybe your mood or lack of energy gets in the way of you achieving things you are passionate about.
Maybe there are addictive behaviors you see within yourself (or others have pointed out to you) that continue to persist no matter how hard you try to overcome them.
You want a fresh start, and you need some help to get there.
Understanding where our emotions come from is only half of the solution. Sometimes we need practical skills to implement as we work through learning how to achieve a sense of mastery over how we react to our experiences through our lives.
You are not alone in this journey. In fact, none of us came into this world knowing how to navigate the complexities of life. How we handle our circumstances, internally and externally, is dependent on what has been modeled for us and what we have taught ourselves along the way.
If the old ways aren’t working, maybe it’s time to teach ourselves some new skills.
Those of us who feel like our brains are rarely ever functioning the way we want them to might notice that we often feel on edge, out of control, or even out of touch with our emotions.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) can help.
DBT is a skills-based therapy technique that often uses short-term treatment to address the problem at hand. DBT was developed through research-based in cognitive behavioral therapy that allowed for a deeper expansion on how to cope and accept the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors we can’t easily change.
Marsha Linehan, the founder of DBT, suffered from borderline personality disorder.
During her treatment, she was met with several interventions that were so focused on taming her behaviors that she never really got a chance to explore them and change them herself.
She had always felt misunderstood and wanted to create a modality that helped promote acceptance and foster interpersonal skills.
Rather than looking at the person as “the problem,” Linehan wanted to team up with people in a way that would empower the client to see “the problem” as “the problem.”
DBT focuses on the here and now and how to address the problems at hand.
DBT is broken down into 4 components:
Mindfulness Strategies:
becoming aware and accepting of our thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.
Emotional Regulation:
learning skills to gain a better understanding of our emotions and how to balance the ways in which we experience them.
Distress Tolerance:
being able to address the stressful experience at hand and preparing ourselves for handling any other stressors that might come our way.
Interpersonal Effectiveness:
gaining enough self-awareness to empower us to deal with uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and circumstances moving forward.
Frequent questions about DBT therapy…
How does DBT therapy work?
The intention of DBT is to strengthen your relationship with yourself and others through using practical tools that help you conquer difficult situations. DBT uses an acronym: PLEASE MASTER, that highlights some foundational values of this modality. The “P” and “L” stand for Treating physical illness, the “E” stands for balanced eating, the “A” stands for avoiding mood-altering substances, the “S” stands for getting an adequate amount of sleep/rest, the “E” stands for exercise, and the “MASTER” portion of the acronym suggests achieving mastery in ones live.
What will I learn in DBT therapy?
In order to achieve this sense of mastery in one’s life, there are several techniques that are taught and practiced within DBT. These are just a few of the techniques offered in DBT to get you started today:
Increase positive experiences/events in your life (i.e. plan outings with friends, incorporate watching your favorite show into your daily routine, go on a road trip to your favorite place)
Bring your focus back to the present moment through by becoming in touch with your surroundings/ environment (i.e. practice grounding techniques, breathing, and mindfulness/meditation)
Perform the “Opposite action. Do what you would do if you were experiencing the opposite mood or emotion you are feeling right now (i.e. if you feel like yelling at your partner in the moment, give them a hug instead.)
How does DBT therapy help the mind?
DBT proposes the ideas of 3 minds: the rational mind, the emotional mind, and the wise mind. The idea behind this is that our rational mind and emotional mind don’t always agree. In fact, there are many times our rational mind and emotional mind might even hold completely different values. The idea of this third mind, the wise mind, is that with the prop skill set, we can learn to incorporate our emotional mind and our rational mind into a wise mind that presents a clear representation of how we think, feel, and act in any given situation.
Is DBT therapy right for me?
Since DBT is so focused on building interpersonal skills and awareness, it does not leave much room to explore questions related to morals, values, and purpose. DBT is very present-focused and does not look too deeply into the past. People dealing with trauma stemming from childhood or past traumas may need to participate in some more trauma-focused therapy modalities before applying the knowledge that DBT has to offer to their lives.
What issues can DBT therapy help with?
DBT has been widely recognized as an effective approach to depression, eating disorders, and substance use issues.
Several studies in the early 2000s found that DBT combined with the use of pharmaceutical medication was significantly more effective than medication alone in treating depression.
Additionally, there was a marked decrease in relapses for individuals struggling with eating disorders and substance use issues. In a particular study of a small group of women struggling with binge eating disorders, 89% of them had completely stopped binge eating after treatment (Healthline, 2019).
Is DBT therapy effective?
Contrary to standard talk therapy, DBT can be a great fit for those of us who are new to therapy or are seeking solutions to a particular obstacle in our life.
Unlike Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which focuses mostly on the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviors, DBT puts more emphasis on accepting your feelings and thought process by dealing with your feelings directly through learning skills to emotionally regulate.
Next Steps
If you’re interested in receiving DBT therapy or want to learn more, schedule a FREE 20-minute consultation call to see if DBT therapy is the right fit for you.
