Dialectical Behavior Therapy (others call it Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) is a treatment pioneered by Marsha Linehan, PhD, in 1991. It is a cognitive behavioral treatment which combines cognitive-behavioral theory and methods with eastern meditative principles and practices. Dialectical Behavior therapy was developed by psychologist Marsha Linehan.

Who Benefits from DBT Skills Training?

DBT can be useful for Borderline Personality Disorder, Substance Abuse, self-injury, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and depression.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training

Usually, DBT includes a combination of group skills training and individual psychotherapy. There are four main types of skills that are focus in DBT.

Mindfulness techniques

Mindfulness is cornerstone in DBT. Mindfulness is an open, accepting, non-judgmental awareness. It helps individuals for accepting and tolerating the strong emotions. Therefore mindfulness considered “core” skill, because is essential to implement the other DBT skills successfully. When you’re mindful, you observe your behaviors, emotions and thoughts from outside, without judging and labeling.

The goals of teaching mindfulness skills in Dialectical Behavior Therapy are:

Fully observing without judgment
Describing without judgmental statements
Participating in the activity with fully focus

Distress Tolerance

Distress tolerance skill is an ability for accepting and tolerating painful events and emotions when, there is no way to solve the problem or get rid of the stressful situation.

Individuals who have low distress tolerance do self destructive behaviors for escaping from severe emotional pain. Self destructive behaviors destroy oneself, one’s family and causes emotional crisis for the long term. Self destructive behaviors include three categories:

1. Self harm.
2. Drug abuse.
3. Suicide.

There are four categories of distress tolerance skills in Dialectical Behavior Therapy:

1. Distraction.
2. Self-Soothing.
3. Improving the moment.
4. Focusing on the pros and cons.

Distress tolerance skills help individuals for tolerating stressful situations and managing difficult emotional states without using Self destructive behaviors.

Emotion Regulation

Individuals with borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder and suicidal individuals suffer from uncontrolled emotions such as depression, mania, anger and anxiety. Learning to regulate our emotions enables us to manage our emotions instead of being managed by them.

Emotion Regulation skills include three stages:

understand what you’re feeling
reduce your vulnerability
Decrease emotional suffering.

Interpersonal Effectiveness

Our interactions with other people can generate stress. Stress can also lead to self destructive behaviors. On the other hand, our relationships are the effective tools for coping with stress. Interpersonal response patterns taught in Dialectical Behavior Therapy include effective strategies for asking for what you want.

Meehlfoundation.org is available to help you with dealing with a bipolar spouse, living with a bipolar spouse, and bipolar relationships, understanding bipolar disorder, bipolar depression, and bipolar information, facilitating bipolar family support and bipolar disorder treatment, bringing bipolar speaking engagements and workshops to your community and providing one-on-one Life Coaching on issues relating to bipolar disorder and depression. Tell them what personally works for you in dealing with BPD!

With the increase in stress, depression, dementia, etc. in our society today how we work to improve mental health is important. We quickly look for prescription drugs and other similar methods to solve this problem, but there are often serious side effects from those methods. Are there natural and safe methods that can help? Yes, but you have to be willing to implement them.

We are a society of quick fixes, but sometimes things don’t always resolve that easily. To get mental health help can be challenging and sometime frustrating for those suffering with issues like depression or dementia. Stress is another one that no matter how much we talk about it as a society, we still can’t seem to get it under control.

People quickly turn to doctors and therapists to improve mental health. There is some value in this and counseling can be wonderful in helping people resolve buried issues, but there seems to be a tendency to rely on things like drugs to combat these issues. However, this usually only deals with symptoms and not root causes which is not the most beneficial thing. The side effects of drugs and other similar methods are also problematic. Sleep issues, nausea, sexual issues can all come as a result of using various prescription drugs making them almost as bad as what they are supposed to cure.

Even if therapy, drugs, etc. work the cost can be quite high. While there is a time and place for these things in dealing with mental illness, the issue is really their overuse when perhaps other more basic methods could help.

Your mental health is as important as your physical health. Being physically fit makes no sense if you have problems with the way you think and feel. According to studies, the mental health of a person declines with age, thus the common case of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia among older people. You can improve your mental health while you are younger simple by developing healthy habits.

Doing something worthwhile can help you overcome boredom and depression. In your free time, try to learn a new sport, discover a passion or even a hidden talent. There are lots of activities out there that can give you the opportunity to exercise your brain. Going out to see new places can also contribute a lot to your mental health, so don’t hesitate to jump into an adventure once in a while.

By eating brain foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, you can boost up your brain’s health so feed your brain to keep it sane. Help your brain release feel-good endorphins as well through regular light and moderate exercises.