Admissions:

801-901-8757

Other Inquiries:

877-415-4060
A female clinician holds hands with a young female patient during an individual therapy session.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

If you’ve ever been called “overly sensitive” or are prone to intense emotion, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) may be a good fit for you. DBT is recommended for individuals experiencing any of the following:

  • Up and down or extreme emotions
  • Sensitivity to criticism or rejection
  • Black and white or rigid thinking
  • Suicidal thoughts or behaviors
  • Fears of rejection or abandonment
  • Self-harm (e.g., cutting or burning)
  • Impulsivity
  • Unstable or high-conflict relationships
  • School/work avoidance
  • Self-hatred or shame
  • Reassurance-seeking behaviors
  • Feelings of emptiness
  • Chronic depression, anxiety, or anger
  • Dissociation (e.g., a mental process of disconnecting from one’s thoughts, feelings, memories, or sense of identity)

People who struggle with overwhelming feelings of guilt, shame, despair, or hopelessness are more likely to engage in unhealthy coping behaviors, like substance use.

Alpine Recovery Lodge offers a safe, effective dual diagnosis program that combines personalized dialectical behavior therapy with substance abuse disorder treatment to help you feel whole again.

 

What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy?

DBT is an evidence-based psychotherapy approach that helps people regulate intense emotion, which can manifest as incessant internal dialogue, obsessive thought patterns, or even self-judgment. DBT is a type of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) that started as a treatment for borderline personality disorder but has since been modified to treat those suffering from extremely intense emotions.

 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Techniques

DBT involves four techniques that need to work in tandem in order to be successful:

  • Mindfulness
    During therapy, you will learn how to be present and fully aware of the moment. Mindfulness is the foundation upon which the other techniques are built. Becoming a mindful person will help you accept and tolerate any form of powerful or overwhelming emotion you may need to deal with in day-to-day life. This technique allows you to mentally slow down and focus on the positives around you, no matter how stressful or negative a situation may become.
  • Interpersonal effectiveness
    Once you’ve mastered the skill of mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness teaches you how to interact with the people around you as well as how to ask for what you want while maintaining self-respect and functional relationships with others.
  • Distress tolerance
    This technique relies heavily on mindfulness, so mastery is essential. During this step, you will learn the art of acceptance using four primary techniques that will help you handle any crisis, including:

    • Self-soothing
    • Improving the stressful situation
    • Weighing the pros and cons of the situation
    • Distracting yourself
  • Emotion regulation
    The last technique is learning how to control your emotions. When you effectively regulate your emotions, you decrease your vulnerability to any form of painful emotion caused by situations that are entirely out of your control. Emotion regulation is perfect for anyone who is regularly overcome with:

    • Anger
    • Depression
    • Anxiety
    • Frustration

While going through this one-on-one behavioral therapy treatment, patients are instructed to not think too far in the future, which can trigger or encourage a depressive state, destructive behaviors, eating disorders, or suicidal behaviors. Staying in the present moment is the key to dialectical behavior therapy success.

Are you ready to overcome intense, unregulated emotion, and substance addictions with proven rehabilitation programs that restore your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual balance. Call Alpine Recovery Lodge at 801-901-8757 for expert, personalized care in an intimate setting.