Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) in Sarnia, ON
Sometimes, we have feelings that are just too big to manage or contain. When this happens, we can sometimes make rash decisions or react to friends and family in unpredictable ways.
If this sounds like you, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) might be a good solution to help you take back control of your emotions and build strong, healthy relationships.
What is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy?
DBT is a type of talk therapy used to support individuals who face extreme or intense emotions. It was first developed as a treatment for people suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder but has since been found to help many mental health conditions and diagnoses.
DBT is unique in that it combines two seemingly opposing therapy approaches.
The first side is based on acceptance. One of the beliefs of DBT is that a person can’t adjust their thinking and emotions until they look at where these feelings are coming from and accept them as a valid part of themselves. Each of us is a whole person with a complex background and history. We need to accept all the parts of ourselves and look at the big picture of who we are to be successful at creating positive emotional change.
The other side uses techniques based on cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). This is a type of traditional talk therapy that helps people understand how their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are connected. Through this understanding, you can develop tools and strategies to change your thought patterns and behaviours and build more positive responses.
Together, these opposing ideas of acceptance and change make up the foundation of DBT counselling.
What Are The Four Modules Of DBT?
Oftentimes, people working with DBT experience extreme emotions and impulsive behaviours. This can cause a person to struggle with emotional regulation and effective communication. Through DBT, we work to develop skills to help you overcome these struggles and improve your day-to-day life. These skills are broken into four categories or modules.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the act of existing in the present moment. Not thinking about the future or the past, but focusing on what is happening to you right now. What are you feeling? What is happening around you?
By looking at your present feelings, thoughts, and behaviours without judgment, you can begin to identify and examine them. Fully experiencing your full range of emotions is the first step towards acceptance.
Distress Tolerance
Once you can identify and examine your intense emotions, you can work toward accepting them for what they are. Extreme emotions are challenging to feel, but it’s important to learn how to experience these without engaging in harmful or destructive behaviours.
By accepting that extreme emotions occur and thinking about how to make them more manageable and less overwhelming, you can work to build positive coping strategies and stop yourself from falling into negative reactions.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Interpersonal Effectiveness is about how you successfully communicate and interact with others. Knowing what you need from a relationship and clearly communicating that to the other person allows you to develop healthy relationships with appropriate boundaries.
Healthy communication and relationships help you protect your mental health by saying no when something is too much for you or asking for help when you’re struggling with something. It creates mutual respect for all people in the relationship and ensures that everyone’s needs are met.
Emotional Regulation
Emotional regulation involves being able to identify emotions as they are occurring and reducing their intensity. Occurrences of extreme emotions can make you feel overwhelmed, but emotional regulation can help you take back control.
Managing and controlling intense emotions is a challenge, but mastering these experiences will help you feel less vulnerable, reduce overly negative reactions, and give you more control over your life.
