Here's How Dialectical Behavior Therapy Can Benefit Your Mental Health

This form of therapy, also known as DBT, has been gaining popularity in recent years as a successful treatment option for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and other mental health conditions. If you’re unfamiliar with the therapy or want to learn more about how it works, keep reading to discover what it is and how it works.

What Is DBT All About?

This is an evidence-based approach to managing emotional distress and psychological disorders. In 1993, psychologist Marsha Linehan developed it to treat chronically suicidal women who met the criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, it has since been applied to treat a variety of mental health conditions, including eating disorders, self-harm, chronic depression, and substance abuse. There are four modules in dialectical therapy:

Mindfulness
Distress tolerance
Emotional regulation
Interpersonal effectiveness

These modules can be used together or separately depending on what you want to work on at any given time. It also involves weekly individual therapy sessions with your counselor, during which the skills outlined above are taught. After some time, clients learn how to implement these skills into daily life through homework assignments between sessions.

4 of the Best Benefits of Dialectical Therapy

This form of therapy has gained traction over the last few years because of its effectiveness in treating people with BPD and complex trauma disorders, among others. Here are four of the best benefits to this approach.

1. Mastering Emotions

One of its top benefits is that it helps us learn to manage our emotions better. If you struggle with anxiety or depression, dialectical therapy will teach you how to cope in a way that leads to less stress and fewer outbursts. Instead of bottling up negative feelings until they explode, you learn to face them head-on and usually conquer them quickly.

2. Honoring Choices

One of DBT’s fundamental principles is honoring your choices. You accept and acknowledge that each choice you make comes with its own consequences. Honoring your choices also means choosing mindfully, accepting what those consequences are. This is because your choices are consistent with who you want to be and where you want to go in life.

3. It Helps You Cope With Stress

If you feel like your anger is causing more problems than it’s solving, dialectical therapy can help. It’s based on a four-step process that helps people identify their emotions and take action to reduce stress and cope with problems in healthy ways. For example, if you focus on your positive attributes, you’ll likely feel better about yourself than if you focus on your shortcomings.

4. It Gives You Peace of Mind

Living with anxiety and/or depression can make you feel like you’re stuck in a downward spiral that you can’t control. By learning to own your behaviors and accept reality, dialectical therapy teaches you how to cope with everyday stress in a healthy way instead of fighting it. If you choose this form of treatment, it’s important to have your loved ones support you, learning about dialectical therapy and helping to motivate you if necessary.

Clearly, this therapy comes with a lot of benefits to improve mental health. At the Sands Treatment Center, we offer the best dialectical behavior therapy, fine-tuned to suit each patient’s unique needs.

Getting Help is Just a Phone Call Away

If you think you may need multiple diagnoses, you are not alone; we’ve been there and have the resources to help you find the best possible treatment option. To get help, get connected by contacting us today.

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Dialectical Behavior Therapy