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Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical Behavior Therapy combines cognitive-behavioral strategies with mindfulness practices to help you better tolerate distress, regulate emotions, improve communication, and navigate intense feelings. DBT focuses on both acceptance and change—helping you understand yourself while also building new skills.

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Good for people who:

  • Experience big emotions or emotional overwhelm

  • Struggle with impulsivity, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts

  • Have relationship conflict or fear of abandonment

  • Feel emotions very intensely and quickly

What Sessions Look Like

DBT sessions focus on skill-building and applying those skills to real-life situations. Your therapist may introduce strategies from the four DBT modules:

  • Mindfulness: Developing awareness and presence

  • Emotion Regulation: Understanding and managing emotions

  • Distress Tolerance: Getting through tough moments without making things worse

  • Interpersonal Effectiveness: Communicating clearly and maintaining healthy relationships

How DBT Helps

  • Reduces emotional overwhelm

  • Improves relationships and boundary setting

  • Builds distress-tolerance skills

  • Strengthens mindfulness and self-awareness

  • Helps manage impulsive behaviors

  • Increases self-compassion

​Additional Resources

  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy — Encyclopedia/Reference Overview
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy Wikipedia
    (Concise, research-linked overview of DBT and its evidence base)

  • SAMHSA Tech Transfer Center DBT Resources (from evidence guides)
    https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/SAMHSA_Digital_Download/PEP20-06-01-002.pdf SAMHSA Store
    (Includes federal-level info on DBT training and evidence)

  • APA/Professional Info on DBT Skills and Evidence (Behavioral Tech via TREC DC)
    https://trecdcpsychotherapy.org/resources/
    (DBT coverage in the context of evidence-based trauma care) 

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