What are the origins of DBT?

Who may benefit from DBT?

What makes DBT effective?

What kind of therapy do you receive in DBT?

How is DBT different?

What are the origins of DBT?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was founded by Marsha Linehan: Ph.D., internationally renowned top researcher, Zen master, Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington and overseer of Behavioral Tech|Linehan Institute.

Who may benefit from DBT?

Originally, DBT was designed for individuals diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD); now we know this “label” is, in many cases, potentially more accurately represented with the “diagnosis” Pervasive Emotion Dysregulation Disorder (PEDD).

Current research shows that DBT’s effectiveness is expanded to populations struggling with pervasive emotion regulation struggles linked with multiple-disordered symptomology.

Further, DBT has since had an incredible amount of researchers uncover that this modality is useful for a wide array of complex emotion dysregulation and over-regulation/over-control disorders.

Complex Interpersonal Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) can be misdiagnosed as BPD via professional bias and overlook of trauma influences.

Criteria that may show either C-PTSD or a whole separate diagnosis of PEDD (out-datedly known as BPD) may get mixed up with one another since both diagnoses C-PTSD & PEDD can include the following symptoms and self-harm behaviors:

• self-sabotage,
• cutting,
• suicide attempts/thoughts/or urges,
• significant relationship challenges,
• and struggles with regulating emotions and impulses.

Likewise, individuals who may have such symptoms may tend to, especially in the case of C-PTSD, struggle with other problems that relate to overlooked complex trauma-related responses such as:

• depression,
• anxiety,
• emotional numbing,
• severe body sensory overload from a hyper-active or (or hypo-active) nervous system,
• confusion around intimacy & relational attachment
• traumatic shame and guilt,
• rage or anger (behaviorally turned outward and/or inward),
• disordered eating,
• unannounced withdraw or sudden disengagement,
• a masked distrust in others,
• mood swings (highs and lows that may also “resemble” bipolar disorder further biasing misdiagnosis),
• and disordered substance use or abuse.

DBT of Charleston rather centers treatment on recovery from specific behaviors that maintain suffering, rather than emphasizing a likely oppressive, judgmental label that may be unhelpful and potentially even counterproductive or harmful.

What makes DBT effective?

In developing this program, Dr. Linehan initially relied on cognitive behavioral therapy to help these people who tended to be marginalized in the history of mental health treatment effectiveness, who struggle with the issues discussed above.

When this did not work, Dr. Linehan and her research team developed DBT. Thus, DBT (& DBT-PE for C-PTSD) has become an “empirically-supported treatment.”

This means it has been researched in clinical trials.

A “DBT” program will follow the principles of “standard or comprehensive” DBT. “Standard or comprehensive” DBT refers to the intensive outpatient DBT program as it is researched and developed at Dr. Linehan’s research lab. Our center meets the requirements of “standard or comprehensive” DBT.

What kind of therapy do you receive in DBT?

There are four modes of treatment: specialized individual DBT sessions, skills group, telephone coaching, an adherent DBT team (centered on “therapy for the therapist”). 

DBT Consultation Team

“Therapy for the therapist.”

• 1-on-1 Therapy Sessions: Individual sessions are typically 50 minutes and meet weekly.

• DBT Skills Class: Skills class meets weekly for two-hours. The format for skills class emerges as an educational course, unlike group psychotherapy. Five modules are taught: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness and Mid Path; along with two sub-modules: Self-compassion and Self-validation.

• Telephone Coaching: Phone coaching is to teach clients alternative behaviors using skills to replace self harm and other problematic behaviors that lead to suffering- phone coaching is mandatory BEFORE acting on these urges so the new effective skill behavior can be applied in place. Coaching by phone occurs when clients call their therapist prior to engaging in self-harm and problem behaviors.

• DBT Consultation Team: A professional DBT consultation team “therapy for the therapist” meets weekly to deliver you centered therapists embodying DBT + DBT-PE so you will be treated with a “clear minded” DBT specialist. The most overall important goal in this therapy is to help clients build “lives worth living.”

You’ll find DBT specialists like Sarah ONLY bridging with & mentoring therapists who are devoted to embodying this dialectic work themselves, as “therapy for the therapist,” while also bringing you truly adherent team-supportive DBT. Sarah’s advanced experienced team is all out-of-state (virtual).

Together, we believe in delivering our community the strongest, most devoted DBT clinicians who are truly & fully certified with consideration that it’s the risk of your life. You deserve the best.

How is DBT different?

Fiercely proactive, immensely educational and deeply compassionate, DBT is truly of its own field; it is a refreshing approach distinguished greatly from the mental health talk therapy world.

DBT is a unique synthesis of eastern philosophy adapted into tangible skill sets, emotion didactics, interpersonally effective assertiveness training and self-respect development, all heavily rooted in behavior modification science. Clients attend a year-long DBT course where they learn skills, and leave with a specific skill set to practice each week.

This process is crucial in learning new behaviors. Diary cards are used to help therapists and clients track and record their emotional intensity and problem behaviors. Change and Acceptance Strategies are weaved all through DBT to help in learning not only new behaviors, but how to tolerate times that are unbearable and unchangeable.

DBT teaches skills to help you learn to tolerate instead of running away; to understand what it is that causes life to be so challenging at times. These are just a few differences and as you work this program you will see that it is a very hands on working therapy. DBT also has many published articles and is an evidenced-based therapy.