Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is one of the most effective mental health and addiction treatment approaches. It has been around since the 1970s when psychologist Marsha Linehan developed it. Originally used in treating borderline personality disorder, its effectiveness in treating substance use disorders (SUDs) became clear by the 1980s.
CeDAR in Denver, CO, offers a range of proven therapies for addiction. One of the cornerstones of our treatment offerings is dialectical behavior therapy, provided by trained, experienced, professional psychotherapists in various options, including inpatient and outpatient rehab. To learn more about DBT at CeDAR, reach out today. We will respond promptly once you complete this online form, or you can call us at 720.848.3000.
What Is Dialectical Behavior Therapy?
A dialectical approach to the world involves trying to see every issue from multiple, often contradictory, perspectives to achieve goals and reach a state of balance and understanding. When that idea is incorporated into a behavioral therapy modality based on cognitive-behavioral therapy, it aims to create a solid response to a challenge, enabling acceptance and change simultaneously.
Why does a person need to change if they can accept things as they are? That is the dialectic in this therapy. When seeking recovery from addiction, both are necessary. Acceptance involves kindness to self—lack of judgment for what has been as you become empowered to see what can be. With acceptance, change can take place without a sense of urgency or a fear of failure.
At CeDAR, we value the dialectical behavior therapy model and know it can effectively treat SUDs and other mental health disorders such as PTSD. This evidence-based therapy can be used effectively in individual and group therapy.
3 Dialectical Behavior Therapy Techniques
Experienced therapists will modify and individualize treatment for each person they work with professionally. The specifics of each person’s medical, addiction, and psychological history are discovered upon intake. Whatever your individual goals, struggles, blind spots, and personal challenges, a DBT therapist can find the approach that works for your healing process.
Here are three dialectical behavior therapy techniques that therapists use.
1. Practicing Mindfulness
Fundamental to dialectical behavior therapy is the idea of mindfulness. It underlies everything else that transpires in DBT and is one of the primary techniques your therapist will teach you. Focus on the present moment is a powerful antidote to the impulsivity of addiction. When you learn to give your full and nonjudgmental attention to the now, pay attention to the peacefulness. Let the guilt, shame, anxiety, and fear all drop away. Imagine how that state can help with the acceptance that is so important in DBT.
2. Helping with Distress Tolerance
Your therapist will also use the technique of helping you mitigate your own reactions to stressful, upsetting situations. If you can learn to tolerate the challenges that life presents without judging yourself or others, you will be better able to accept that painful problems will and do emerge. Rather than seeking unhealthy ways to handle distress, such as drinking or using drugs, you become more open to approaches and strategies that build on positivity and wellness, which allows for holistic, non-traumatic change.
3. Supporting Emotional Regulation
Being at the mercy of intense emotion, you may have turned to drugs and alcohol to silence them, which only led to your addiction. Your therapist will use a technique that guides you to identify and understand your emotions, how they affect you, what behaviors they lead to, and how to manage them in healthy, non-addictive ways.
The efficacy of DBT techniques is primarily due to the seamless, unstrained approach rooted in mindful acceptance and void of self-recrimination.
Learn More About Dialectical Behavior Therapy at CeDAR
CeDAR’s professional clinicians are well-versed in the dialectical behavior therapy techniques that work so well to help people like you begin recovery on strong footing. We would love to talk to you more about DBT and the techniques that underpin its effectiveness. Reach out to CeDAR today by calling us at 720.848.3000 or using our online form. We look forward to hearing from you.