DBT Therapy

Programs >> DBT Therapy

What is DBT?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy developed by Marsha Linehan, PhD for treating patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Dr. Linehan developed DBT by modifying certain key components associated with traditional cognitive therapy. In Dr. Linehan’s view, the emotional dysregulation associated with borderline personality disorders is largely derived from a combination of biological factors and destabilizing early childhood environments. DBT helps the patient to learn and assimilate new skills that have been found to significantly reduce maladaptive reactions to extreme emotions.

DBT skill training

DBT skill training is conceptualized within four main skill building categories of varying degrees of intensity: Mindfulness Meditation Skills, Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills, Distress Tolerance Skills, and Emotion Regulation Skills. Mindfulness Meditation Skills teach patients how to actively participate in a wide range of environmental experiences without assigning meaning to these experiences as either “good” or “bad.” Mindfulness Meditation Skills are perceived as intrinsic to effectively utilizing all of the other skills associated with DBT. Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills teach patients how to be more assertive in expressing their needs and how to manage relational conflict. Distress Tolerance Skills help instill patients with new approaches to tolerating distressful situations without succumbing to maladaptive behavior that ultimately sabotages the goal of reducing distress. Emotion Regulation Skills help patients learn how to self-identify a wide range of emotions and take responsibility for how they manage their emotions.

Benefits of using DBT while inpatient

DBT is reported to reduce suicidal behavior, non-suicidal self-injurious behavior, other impulsive behaviors strongly linked with borderline personality disorder, and significantly reduce psychiatric hospitalization (relapse), self-injury, and depression among adolescents and adults. The uniqueness of the DBT model emphasizes three distinct levels of intensity, allowing DBT to effectively meet the needs of individual patients. DBT can be readily adapted to pre-existing, inpatient treatment settings.

Burning Tree Offers Long-Term Inpatient Rehabilitation

Burning Tree specializes in preventing chronic relapse from severe cases of addiction to alcohol or drugs. At Burning Tree, addiction specialists and therapists monitor our clients with around the clock supervision to ensure maximum comfort and safety. Burning Tree’s long-term, inpatient rehab program gives clients time to relearn valuable life skills, grow spiritually in a closer walk with God, come to terms with unresolved wounds or emotional hurts from the past, and learn how to self-identify people, places, and things that trigger drug or alcohol relapse. Re-integrating back into the family unit and community as a sober adult goes beyond the walls of rehab to serving the local community in a variety of ways. Burning Tree’s long-term, inpatient treatment program requires a personal investment in a process that gives back in direct proportion to the amount of commitment and internalization of values that support a lifestyle of sobriety.