Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Dialectical behavior therapy, commonly known as DBT, is designed to help you better manage painful emotions and experiences in order to improve your relationships. At Greenwich Avenue Psychiatry in Greenwich, Connecticut, Paroma Mitra, MD, Margaret Miller, DNP, LMSW, Kara Grayson, LCSW, and the team use DBT to help their clients navigate life more positively and without conflict. If you’d like to explore how DBT might help you, call the office or request an appointment online today.

What is dialectical behavior therapy?

The definition of “dialectical” is the ability to work through opposing forces. With DBT, the team at Greenwich Avenue Psychiatry works with you on both acceptance and change in order to help you better negotiate painful emotions and experiences so that you can resolve conflict more readily.

There are four components to DBT:

• Mindfulness
• Distress tolerance
• Emotion regulation
• Interpersonal effectiveness

This multi-pronged approach teaches you to stay in the moment, face your emotions, manage your emotions, and act accordingly. Rather than running away or lashing out, DBT trains you to react in a positive way that encourages healthier communication and relationships by balancing opposite perspectives.

What conditions can dialectical behavior therapy treat?

DBT was originally designed to tackle borderline personality disorder, but mental health experts observed that this type of therapy helped patients with a wide range of mental health problems, including:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Bipolar disorder
• Substance use disorder
• Eating disorders

Because DBT helps people better navigate their worlds through improved distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and better interaction, the therapy provides a wide range of benefits for most common mental health disorders.

What happens during dialectical behavior therapy?

There are several different parts to DBT:

• Individual therapy
• Group skills development
• Homework

To begin, the Greenwich Avenue Psychiatry team starts with one-on-one therapy sessions to discuss your problems and target the emotions and behaviors that are affecting your relationships.

During your group sessions, you begin to learn exercises and skills that will help you get rid of either-or thinking in order to promote a better balance in your behaviors. In a group environment, you’re able to practice some of these skills of awareness and acceptance and put them to the test under the guidance of the Greenwich Avenue Psychiatry team. Once you begin to communicate and interact with the group better, you can bring those newfound skills into the wider world.

DBT takes time, but the Greenwich Avenue Psychiatry team is with you every step of the way as you learn new skills that will help bring better balance and, most importantly, meaningful and healthy relationships into your life.

To learn more about DBT, call Greenwich Avenue Psychiatry or request an appointment online today.