Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a research supported therapy.  While it was originally created to treat Borderline Personality Disorder, research has been shown that DBT is effective in treating anyone with problems regulating and managing intense emotions and can successfully treat people with depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar, eating disorders and substance abuse.  The backbone of DBT is about acceptance and change.

DBT offers individual comprehensive skills training that focuses on the following four areas:

• Mindfulness – Mindfulness is central to regulating emotions.  It helps individuals focus their attention on the present moment, increase awareness and slows down reactive or impulsive responses.
• Distress Tolerance – Negative emotions are part of the human experience.  Therefore, it is important to learn how to manage or tolerate these emotions with healthy techniques and strategies.
• Emotion Regulation – In order to learn how to regulate our emotions, we must first learn about emotions and the role they play in our lives.  The next step is to learn how to skillfully experience and regulate emotions effectively.
• Interpersonal Effectiveness – These techniques help an individual communicate and advocate for themselves in a confident and assertive way, while still maintaining self-respect and healthy boundaries.

Quite often, we live our daily lives with a constant stream of uncontrollable negative emotions outside of our awareness.  These emotions influence how we feel about ourselves and how we interact with friends, partners, co-workers and family members.  DBT can help individuals find effective strategies and techniques so they can bring balance back into their lives and build a life worth living.