What Is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy?

Dialectical behavioral therapy, also known as DBT, is a form of treatment to help you manage emotional conflicts and build new skills. DBT focuses on mindfulness, distress tolerance, and emotional regulation strategies. The techniques are effective with DBT because it allows quality and assertive communication to improve self-respect and rebuild your relationships and positivity.

Breakdown of DBT

DBT is an effective treatment to help regulate emotions with those who suffer from co-occurring mental health disorders and substance use. DBT focuses on enhancing your behavioral coping mechanisms through skills training to realign your decisions and goals in life. DBT was traditionally intended to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, as research grows, other mental health concerns have found that DBT eliminates self-destructive behaviors to evolve as an evidence-based psychotherapy approach in recovery. DBT is a life-changing effective treatment that is beneficial for both the therapist and the client. Breaking down DBT in treatment follows a specific delivery function. DBT includes individual psychotherapy, skills training, personal one-on-one coaching, and consultation. The strategies in DBT help those that struggle with substance use reach their goals in a faster timeframe and help with solutions that are relevant to each situation. DBT helps individuals build personal skills with regulation through mindfulness and balance. There is more to managing your relationships and emotions when DBT is used in recovery. Essentially, DBT helps you learn to accept and pay attention to your thoughts and feelings of what is and what will be and separates them with coping mechanisms and skills to rebalance rational thoughts taking actions through difficult situations.

Process of DBT in Substance Use Recovery

DBT is a therapeutic modality to build skills that are relative to your unique situation. The process of DBT encourages:

• Setting goals
• Cultivating stronger relationships
• Maintaining commitment
• Creating positive changes
• Improving cognitive functioning
• Focusing and controlling emotions

When using DBT for recovery, there are goals for each stage of the treatment. The beginning stage focuses on moving past the chaos and internal negative mindset. It moves you towards a more controlled behavioral thought process. The next step builds on your emotional experiences to help you understand the concepts of substance use. Next, DBT will help you understand your happiness versus unhappiness and find tools and resources to uncover the core elements of substance use. Last, you get to develop external and internal completeness and capacity for identification of freedom of self-worth. The goals in the process of DBT correlate with other treatment modalities and give you the ability to make sense of control through different places, situations, circumstances, and emotions. DBT teaches you behavioral control with surrender, honesty, compassion, and comfortability. When you can experience emotional regulation without anguish, your happiness to build a better life free from substance use becomes possible. DBT helps you engage in a fulfilling life of recovery that accomplishes goals and skills to maintain a lasting recovery plan.

How DBT Is Used in Recovery

DBT is used as an effective treatment process to actively engage you in individual therapy and participation in skills training. The elements that contribute to its effectiveness identify meaningful improvements in concerning areas of emotional regulation. Effective DBT benefits your mind on multiple levels and develops your focus on the present. DBT is effective in treatment because it helps you understand your thoughts, impulses, and feelings in a non-judgmental fashion. The process helps you slow down and educate yourself on the emotional pain. You learn what strategies can help redirect those negative thoughts and patterns that align with substance use. Along with regulating emotions, DBT builds skills to teach you different techniques for handling multiple situations such as distractions, stress tolerance, and personal validation. This helps maintain positive and healthy communication with yourself and with those around you. In recovery, you may deal with challenging circumstances and triggers. DBT teaches you how to respect yourself and the boundaries of others through identifying your emotions and experiences. DBT is a successful treatment approach to improve your coping skills in real-life scenarios inside and outside of treatment. Those who have a heightened risk of suicide or other mental health disorders may find treatment more successful when implementing DBT therapeutic models. When you consider DBT as a part of your treatment plan, understand that it’s a commitment and takes time. Practicing the skills and the different stages of treatment, you may experience some emotional pain and explore traumatic experiences. However, the end result will be better than you could have ever imagined. The best way to see if DBT is a good fit for you or your loved one is to speak with someone trained in the method. At West Coast Recovery Centers, we help teach you to make more effective decisions aligning with your life’s goals. We offer DBT as a mindfulness-based treatment. It is backed by extensive research to help you with emotional regulation and mental health disorders which co-occur with substance use. We want to enhance your behavioral skills with training and a personalized approach because your situation is unique. If you or someone you love struggle with substance use, you can talk with our compassionate team, who understand the DBT approach. We care about developing your focus and giving you a clear mind to conquer substance use. Our DBT services will help you cope with difficult situations, avoid relapse, and help you understand how you can improve your life in a healthy direction. For more information, call West Coast Recovery Centers at (760) 492-6509.