Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Are emotions taking over your life?

• Do you feel like you are on a rollarcoaster ride everyday with your emotions?

• Are you more explosive than others?

• Do you find yourself stuck in negative behaviour patterns to deal with the pain of your emotions?

• Do people often describe you as sensitive, or tend to walk on eggshells around you?

• Do you react very strongly to relatively minor stressors?

• Do you ever feel helpless, hopeless, or suicidal?

Some people are biologically wired to feel emotions more strongly. There are genetic components to how strongly we react to our environment, the intensity of the emotion in relation to the environment, and the length of time it takes for the emotion to return to baseline. For people living with emotionally sensitive nervous systems, it can seem as though no one understands. You may have felt invalidated your whole life, “Why are you so upset? Why can’t you just calm down?” - sound familliar?

What is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy?

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), created by Marsha M. Linehan, combines traditional cognitive/behavioural approaches (CBT) with distress tolerance, mindful awareness and acceptance. A trained therapist and the client work together to identify the need to balance ‘acceptance’ and ‘change’ in one’s life. DBT includes different modules: emotion regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness, along with the core module of mindfulness. DBT relies on a non-judgemental approach, that both client and therapist strive to take in each session. By removing judgement, we learn to accept and tolerate life’s challenges and painful emotions without being swept away by them.

What does DBT treat?

• chronic emotional dysregulation, strong and painful emotional experiences

• interpersonal difficulties and/or chaotic relationships

• suicidality

• self-harm urges and behaviours

• personality disorders such as Borderline Personality Disorder

• disordered eating

What results will I see with DBT?

DBT helps create a ‘life worth living’. It replaces old, unhelpful coping strategies with new skills that enhance the person’s life and overall functioning across school, work and home life. It will help the person better tolerate severe emotional pain and act effectively, even when experience intense emotion. DBT teaches relationship skills and interpersonal effectiveness, including how to get what we want from others and maintaining self-respect.

Brookhaven Psychotherapy does not offer a full, comprehensive DBT program. Our clinicians are, however, highly skilled in delivering DBT principles and skills in an individual setting. A full comprehensive program usually lasts between 6 months and 1 year, however, when delivered to an individual, the length of time in therapy varies greatly, anywhere from 8 sessions plus. Your therapist can help you determine what length and style of DBT treatment is best for you.