Dialectical Behavior Therapy or DBT is a kind of talk therapy made to help people know how to better understand and control their emotions. It was first developed in the year 1980 for treating people who have borderline personality disorder and are suffering from destructive thoughts like suicide. At present it is used for managing several other conditions such as depressive and anxiety disorder including substance use disorder.
What are the six main points of dialectical behavior therapy?
For a deep understanding of DBT, it’s important to know what the six main points of dialectical behavior therapy are. It assists in having a better understanding of the DBT power and its efficacy in enhancing the lives of people.
- Mindfulness: It’s an important component of Dialectical behavior therapy and includes fostering non-judgmental awareness of someone’s thoughts, sensations, and emotions in the existing moment. By developing mindfulness skills, people can learn to see their internal experiences without being overwhelmed or getting engaged in any maladaptive behaviors.
- Emotional regulation: It’s a core skill that is taught in DBT and includes several strategies for understanding, managing, and adjusting an individual’s emotional responses. This module helps in addressing the difficulties of clients in the regulation of their emotions and offers them tools for the development of great emotion control.
- Pain tolerance: Pain tolerance is another important DBT component that helps consumers know how to cope with negative emotions and difficult situations without involving in maladaptive behaviors. This emphasizes the importance of bearing distress and the development of healthy coping strategies. By knowing how to tolerate pain and adapt healthy coping methodologies, a person can manage all of their symptoms better and have great life stability.
- Interpersonal efficiency: It’s an important skill that is taught in DBT thereby focusing on assisting clients to develop more efficient communication and relationship-developing skills. By enhancing interpersonal effectiveness, clients can easily experience great social support and a fulfilled social life.
- Validates and supportive environment: Validation is important for DBT as it assists clients in feeling they are being listened to, understood, and valued in their treatment journey. The therapist gives importance to the validation of clients, emotions, and experiences, generating a safe and supportive environment where clients can easily explore their thoughts and feelings.
So, these six points of DBT form the foundation of this proof-based treatment method. Even though this proof-based treatment is an efficient tool for assisting people with several mental health conditions in building lives, it’s not right for all. Because different people have different needs and choices, therefore, you need to know about the pros and cons of DBT before embracing it.
Pros of DBT therapy
DBT is a therapeutic module that emphasizes the psychological aspect of any treatment. Some of the benefits of DBT therapy are
- It is rigorous: DBT is a rigorous form of therapy that focuses and pays importance on obtaining rapid outcomes right from day one of the therapy.
- Group therapy: When a person makes use of NHS, there is a high chance that they will be offered therapies in groups for DBT. It might sound daunting for you but it is highly therapeutic to observe that all your thoughts are being validated, and others are in the same position and recovery is possible.
- Pays attention to emotional regulation: When there is a lack of emotional regulation, it’s a hallmark of borderline personality disorder. But With DBT you can find a solution to these problems and learn good coping plans that can offer you long-term benefits.
- Tools for stress management: Through DBT a person learns how to manage stress through various tools such as mindfulness. This is specifically relevant as it makes the patients learn how to stay grounded in the present moment and to remain calm during the period when the time is going difficult.
- Less dropout rate: Dissimilar to other therapies, DBT appears to have a lower dropout rate which means most of the people who start treatment will stay till the end. This is evidence that DBT is efficient.
- Involves medicines and therapies: Borderline personality disorder is mainly treated with some kind of medicine. With a combination of therapies and medication, DBT becomes even more effective.
Cons of DBT
- Needs long commitment: Full treatment of DBT needs 6 – 12 months of commitment to complete but sometimes is longer for people having some mental health conditions. DBT needs one-to-one sessions with your therapist, group therapies, and some take-home assignments to assist you in executing the new skills outside of your therapies. With DBT, there is also telephonic coaching where people require support in between sessions. If you are not ready to commit this much time to treatment, then DBT is not the right fit for you.
- Needs group work: One of the important parts of the DBT treatment is group sessions. These sessions offer a chance to learn and practice new skills before you try them outside of their therapy settings. While a lot of people enjoy this group learning, other people might not prefer such a traditional experience.
- Requires active participation: DBT is an all-inclusive treatment program that needs people to completely invest in individual and group therapy, home-based assignments and sometimes even calls. Changing the mindset and your behaviors needs time as well as patience, for which you have to be ready to show you daily that you are taking active participation in the treatment. Without a commitment to bring positive change in life, DBT is not effective.
Conclusion
To sum up, DBT is not just a therapeutic approach involving certain principles but a whole journey toward your recovery. DBT has shown much success in decreasing harmful behaviors, increasing your quality of life, and addressing mental health problems. But it’s vital to keep in mind that what might work for one person, might not suit others.
So, is DBT the right fit for you? Consider what resonates with you well. Go through the pros and cons of DBT therapy. Are you interested in learning practical skills in a good environment? Do you like group activities? Your wellness pathway is unique and DBT might prove valuable for you, but it’s important to take into consideration whether it aligns with your choices and requirements or not.
