Top 6 Things DBT Could Do For You

Dialectical behavioral therapy, or DBT, is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that can be incredibly effective in treating a wide range of mental health disorders. Here are six ways that DBT can help you improve your life:

1. Mindfulness: One of the core tenets of DBT is mindfulness, or the practice of staying present in the moment and being aware of your thoughts and feelings without judgment. Mindfulness can help you to become more aware of your triggers and learn to control your reactions to them—so that what are now reactions can become responses. It's the foundation of the whole program.

2. Distress tolerance: Life is full of stressors, and it can be difficult to always remain calm and level-headed. DBT teaches distress tolerance skills that can help you to deal with stressful situations in a healthy way. Not all stress is bad, stress also helps us grow, just like the winter season is a big time of growth for trees, so stress can be for us. When life stressors fall in what Dr. Susan David calls the "Bad Stress" category (why you gotta be all judgmental of stress, Susan!?) DBT distress tolerance skills will make sure you are equipped to make choices that don't follow the demanding emotion-charged narrative of the moment that would blow up (anger urges) or implode (avoidance/withdrawal urges) your life so you can simply tolerate the distressing situation without making it worse. Clutch.

3. Emotional regulation: It’s normal to feel emotions like sadness, anger, and fear, but it’s super important to be able to regulate these emotions (decrease intensity, duration, frequency, and how those emotions are demonstrated) so they don’t take over your life. DBT can help you to become more emotionally agile, or better able to cope with strong emotions. When you know better, you can do better.

4. Interpersonal effectiveness: Relationships are an integral part of a life with a sense of well-being and fulfillment, but they can also be the biggest minefields of all. People-ing can be so difficult due to the nature all humans have: both light and shadow. We all have that pesky shadow side that we have to navigate every day and no matter how self-actualized or existentially fulfilled, we will absolutely mess up and the fabric of our relationship will get ripped from time to time. KEY POINT is to know how to mend the fabric of relationships, not insist it never get damaged. The DBT skills taught to address this will absolutely change your life. It's a framework within which any relational situation will fit and you will have a framework to follow so you can know how to talk about hard things. You start by describing the situation (facts only) you'd like to discuss, then express how you felt about what happened/what was said, then make an ask - ask for what you'd like to have happen as a result, then tell them why this is actually going to be good for them and a few other pieces throughout and at the end and there you have it. A brief framework of one of the DBT skills you'll learn that can help you initiate new boundaries and maintain them or mend a damaged relationship or simply teach someone how to treat you.

5. Self-care: One of the goals of dialectical behavioral therapy is to help you develop a better relationship with yourself. This includes taking care of your physical self and learning to nurture yourself with kindness and care.

6. Growth: Dialectical behavioral therapy can be a powerful tool for personal growth and development. It can help you to become more self-aware and accepting, as well as improve your emotional and interpersonal skills.

If you'd like to gain these benefits in your life, DBT might be just the thing!