What is DBT?

 

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is a bio-social treatment developed in the 1980’s by Dr. Marsha Linehan. Linehan developed DBT to treat borderline personality disorder. Since then research has shown it to be a successful treatment for a variety of issues related to regulating emotions.

 

DBT Treats the Following Problems:

 Painful and overwhelming emotions

Feelings of hopelessness and despair

Frequently changing and unpredictable moods

Poor impulse control, particularly around substance abuse, eating problems, sexual addiction, and gambling/shopping addictions

Feelings of emptiness and loneliness

Difficult and volatile relationships

Anxiety and depression

Feelings of worthlessness and shame

Suicidal thoughts

Self-harming behaviour

Fear of abandonment

 

DBT Has Four Components:

 

1) Skills training groups based on four modules: Basic Mindfulness Skills, Distress Tolerance Skills, Emotion Regulation Skills, and Interpersonal Relationship Skills,

2) Individual counselling sessions,

3) Brief phone coaching between counselling sessions,

4) Participation of the counsellor on a collaborative DBT team which meets weekly for supervision.

 

Many clients benefit from parts of DBT  but do not need the full program. However, DBT is one of the few treatments that have ever been found to successfully treat borderline personality disorder.

 

A DBT counsellor works with you to determine which parts of the treatment would help meet your specific needs and goals.