Main Navigation

Behavioral Health

Adult Mental Health Administrative Case Management
Adult Outpatient Mental Health Services
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Family and Friends Support Group
Geriatric Services
Illness Management and Recovery
Psychiatry & Medication Management
Psychiatric Rehabilitation
Substance Abuse Services
Targeted Case Management

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Do you:

have low self-esteem?
feel abandoned, alone, lonely?
engage in reckless/self-damaging behaviors?
have intense anger/difficulty controlling emotions?
have unstable, unsatisfying interpersonal relationships?

If you recognize any of these symptoms in yourself or a loved one, you may have Borderline Peronality Disorder (BPD). People with BPD experience emotions which can lead to self-injury, anger outbursts or abrupt ending of important relationships. These action may temporarily reduce emotional pain, but they often wind up causing problems that can make life even more difficult.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a type of treatment developed specifically to help people deal with BPD. DBT offers individual and group therapy as well as life skills coaching to help people learn healthier ways to deal with these conditions.

Learn more about Dialectical Behavior Therapy by clicking the titles below.

Who Benefits from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)?

DBT was created primarily for those with a Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis, but anyone who displays the following could benefit:

Interpersonal problems
Emotionally sensitive
Impulsive
'Black or white' thinking, (e.g., friend didn't call - friend hates me)
Fear of abandonment
Not always knowing what you feel or why you get upset
With a history of self-harming (cutting, scratching, picking scabs, disordered eating, suicide attempts, etc.) or risky behavior (for example, being sexually promiscuous after a fight with a boyfriend, not taking medications as prescribed, eating cookies when you have diabetes, etc.)

What is DBT?

DBT helps people move toward having a life that feels meaningful and worth living. DBT targets the issues that cause distress and teaches skills to deal with them without having to resort to self-defeating behaviors. It does so in a framework that helps us understand that we are doing the best we can even though we need to learn ways that work better.

How Does DBT Work?

DBT treatment involves individual, group and life coaching calls. For DBT to be successful, the treatment has to teach skills to help people move closer toward their life goals and cultivate an ability to work these skills into their daily lives. You can choose to sign up for our six-month DBT Skills Group or meet individually.

DBT Skills Group

When you sign up for this Skills Group, you make a commitment to attend the group for the entire six months (2.5 hours per week). The Skills Group is run like a class or seminar. Participants are given binders that contain information about the skills being taught each week and are given weekly homework assignments. DBT group therapy offers participants more social support as well as the opportunity to see how others incorporate DBT skills into their lives.

Individual Meetings with a DBT Therapist

DBT participants also meet individually with a DBT therapist for weekly 45-minute sessions. Therapy enhances and maintains participants' motivation to change; enhances their capabilities; ensures that their new capabilities are generalized to all relevant environments; and structures the environment so that the treatment can take place.

Medication Option

Medication may be useful to many participants in DBT. In these cases, participants see our psychiatrist who is familiar with DBT.

Is DBT Successful?

The American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association consider DBT to be a first-choice treatment for BPD. Clients that receive DBT reported significantly few self-injurious behaviors and when engaging in parasuicidal behaviors had less medically severe behaviors. Also clients receiving DBT were less likely to be hospitalized and had fewer days in hospital.

As a result of DBT's success in adults with BPD, it has been adapted for adolescents struggling with severe emotional turmoil and intensely problematic ways of dealing with distress. DBT has also been modified so that it can be used with other difficulties such as eating disorders, substance abuse and anger management.