Adult Dialectical Behavior Therapy - Greenwich Psychology Group

What Is Dialectical Behavior Therapy(DBT)?

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a type of therapy for individuals who frequently experience intense emotions. While DBT is a standard therapy option for individuals with borderline personality disorder, it is also an effective treatment for other mental health conditions.
The roots of DBT lie in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or talk therapy, which helps people understand how their thoughts affect their emotions and behaviors. The term dialectical refers to combining opposing ideas, or in the case of DBT, accepting the reality of a situation while making positive changes. By combining CBT with Zen acceptance strategies, DBT can help improve emotion regulation, increase self-esteem, and generate an overall sense of calm.

At Greenwich Psychology Group, our experienced clinicians provide DBT to adults and children. Throughout their sessions, our patients learn cognitive behavioral and mindfulness skills so they can identify and manage their emotions to create the best life they can imagine.

Benefits of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT is an evidence-based treatment option that offers numerous benefits for individuals, such as:

Improves Relationships
Having a solid support network is key to dealing with challenges to your mental health. Our DBT clinicians understand the importance of social relationships and how they can help individuals overcome challenges. Through DBT, patients learn how to create healthy relationships with respectful boundaries and trust.
Learn Skills Beyond Dealing With Mental Illness
While the goal of DBT is to improve the symptoms of mental illness, patients can apply the skills they develop to other areas of life as well. For example, DBT often focuses on developing mindfulness, which can benefit many other aspects of your overall health and wellbeing.
Enhance Overall Quality of Life
The main focus of DBT is to help individuals improve their quality of life. For some, their mental health challenges will be an aspect of their life forever, and accepting this fact is the key to moving forward. DBT guides individuals toward helpful changes to move them in the right direction while acknowledging that life can sometimes be challenging.

DBT Core Principles

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the cornerstone of DBT and emphasizes being present in the moment. Mindfulness helps patients learn to understand, accept, and observe their emotions without judgment, and to focus on the here-and-now in a calm, collected way. Mindfulness helps individuals develop a more balanced sense of self, which can help with intense emotions and reactivity.

Emotional Regulation

Emotional regulation teaches patients how to navigate difficult or powerful emotions more effectively. By learning how to identify and validate feelings, the process of change ceases to feel impossible, and the transformation towards emotional health feels more like an attainable reality.

Interpersonal Efficacy

Interpersonal efficacy helps patients understand their relationships with others and handle conflict appropriately. It teaches them how to get what they want from others while sticking to their values, maintaining relationships, and fostering the independence they need to move forward.

Distress Tolerance

Distress tolerance focuses on tolerating and minimizing the distress felt when faced with negative emotions. It teaches patients how to accept the current situation and cope with stressful situations.

Radical Acceptance

Radical acceptance: Radical acceptance is the acknowledgment of reality ‘as it is,’ rather than trying to fight or deny painful events and emotions. This doesn’t mean approving or endorsing what may have happened, but by accepting things ‘as they are,’ patients can begin to develop effective solutions for moving forward and making change possible.

Whether you are looking for DBT treatment near Manhattan or Greenwich, Connecticut, Greenwich Psychology group is here to help you create a life you love. To schedule an appointment, please fill out our online contact form for our Greenwich, Connecticut location or our New York, New York center. If you have any questions about our treatment process or would like to learn more about our services, please reach out to one of our experts today.

Take the GPG Symptom Checker

At Greenwich Psychology Group, our symptom checker helps clients track their symptoms of depression or anxiety. Taking the assessment doesn't provide a formal diagnosis, but it can help you determine what next steps you may need to take. The evaluation uses a series of questions to review the feelings and symptoms you've experienced over the past two weeks. The results will help you distinguish if professional help is the best next step.

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