Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, also
known as DBT, is a type
of cognitive behavioural psychotherapy. Developed by Marsha Linehan in the
1980s to treat borderline personality disorder but it is also commonly used to
treat other kinds of mental health disorders.
What is DBT?
As said before, DBT is a type of
psychotherapy, primarily a talking therapy which uses a cognitive behaviour
approach. DBT concentrates on the psychosocial aspects when it comes to
treatment.
The theory behind DBT is that some
of us are more prone to have intense and out of the ordinary reactions toward
certain situations. This type of behaviour is mostly seen in romantic, family
and friend relationships.
The theory suggests that arousal
levels can increase in these situations far more quickly for certain people and
can take longer to return to a normal level following that. Due to the nature
of the extreme mood swings many people are diagnosed with borderline personality
disorder as a result, seeing them jumping from one crisis to another.
Many people who suffer with
borderline personality disorder have no idea how to cope with the extreme
reactions and few people understand, especially family and friends. DBT training
aims to teach skills that will help those to get through particularly
troublesome situations.
What are the components of DBT?
A person can identify their
strengths with support groups. These groups help build on those strengths so
that the individual can feel better about themselves and their life.
Identifying thoughts, beliefs and
assumptions that seem to make an individual’s life harder can help people to
learn different ways of thinking that will make life more bearable.
It requires constant attention to
keep good relationships between therapists and clients. DBT encourages a
collaborative effort to work out problems in relationships with the therapist
but also the other way around. DBT provides homework and assignments for
clients to help them use their new learnt skills in their everyday lives and
relationships to help them to soothe themselves when they get upset. These
skills are reviewed weekly in groups helping those struggling learn from others
too.
Modules of DBT
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is one of the essential
skills taught in DBT. These skills are taught in groups and concentrate on
three “what” skills: observe, describe and participate, and three “how” skills:
non-judgmentally, one-mindfully and effectively.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Interpersonal response patterns,
how you interact with people around you and in personal relationships, are
taught in DBT
skills training and share similarities to some assertiveness and
interpersonal problem-solving scenarios. Skills include effective strategies
such as, how to assertively say “no” and learning to cope with inevitable
conflict.
Distress Tolerance
Distress tolerance focuses on
accepting, finding and meaning for and tolerating stress, unlike other mental
health treatments which concentrate on changing distressing events and
circumstances. Distress tolerance is a natural progression from mindfulness by
accepting a non-evaluative and non-judgemental fashion for a client’s self and
others.
Emotion Regulation
People with borderline personality
disorder or who may be suicidal are usually emotionally intense and frequently
angry, frustrated, depressed or anxious. Those that are dealing with this may benefit
from emotion regulation. Emotion regulation includes:
- · Learning to identify emotions and label them
- · Identifying obstacles and changing emotion
- · Reducing vulnerability to emotions
- · Increasing positive emotions
- · Taking opposite action
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