DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY (DBT)
“My emotions are invisible, untouchable—invincible even—and their power far outweighs my own. And so it seems unfair that for all the little I can do to them, they can do so much to me.”
~ Kelseyleigh Reber, American writer
WHAT IS DBT?
DBT focuses on teaching clients to use specific behavioural techniques and strategies that are effective in tackling problems associated with strong and uncontrolled emotions ('emotional dysregulation'). It is a therapy based on teaching clients new skills, and was designed for people who experience difficulties in managing their emotions and have developed maladaptive and dysfunctional ways of coping, or patterns of behaviour that are self-defeating or impulsive, affecting their everyday lives and their relationships.
Failures in emotion regulation can lead to inhibition or truncating of emotions, which in turn can lead to increasing emotional avoidance, an increasing inability to cope with emotions when they do arise and increases in dysfunctional behaviour to avoid or block painful emotions. Whilst these 'strategies' can seemingly 'solve' the problem in the short-term, they ultimately maintain psychological, behavioural and social difficulties in the longer-term. Consequently, DBT aims to teach the skills to help solve some of these difficulties in a more adaptive way.
There is a wealth of research that evidences the efficacy of DBT as a psychological intervention in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (or Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder), as well as anger difficulties and deliberate self-harm, depression, impulsivity and dissociation. It has also been shown to have had a positive impact on global functioning, interpersonal functioning, well-being, and social adjustment.
HOW DBT CAN HELP YOU
I am accredited as a DBT therapist in the UK through the Society for DBT. For this accreditation, I have demonstrated my extensive training and significant clinical experience in teaching clients to use DBT skills, both as part of standard DBT services in specialist mental health services and as a part of my clinical work with individual clients in conjunction with other therapy skills, including traditional CBT strategies.
In my private work I incorporate some of the key principles and elements of the DBT model to help clients to develop a greater awareness and understanding of painful emotions and – ultimately – learn the skills to cope with distress in a safer and more effective way. I don’t offer a ‘full-package’ DBT programme in my independent practice – ie I don’t run the group component of DBT where the skills are traditionally taught – but instead my individual therapy work is DBT-informed and I can tailor the skills to suit your specific needs.
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The therapy skills that are taught in DBT fall into four modules:
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Emotion Regulation: helping you to understand and accept painful emotions and become more confident in your ability to regulate and manage these strong feelings in a way that is more effective and less disruptive.
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Interpersonal Effectiveness: helping you to improve your personal relationships, by teaching you skills to help you get your needs met in a more effective way without sacrificing your self-respect or putting the relationship at risk.
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Distress Tolerance: helping you to tolerate and accept some level of distress or emotional pain so that you can deal with difficult situations in a way that is more effective, functional, and safe.
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Mindfulness: helping you to focus and concentrate on one thing at a time, effectively and without judgement, rather than getting caught up in thoughts from the past or about the future.
