DBT or Dialectical behavior therapy is a type of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy introduced to treat the BPD or borderline personality disorder. Since its inception, it can also be used to cure other mental health disorders.
DBT is a type of psychotherapy or a talk therapy that makes the most of the cognitive behavioral approach. DBT for adults focuses more on the psychosocial parts of the treatment. The gist here is that people tend to react intensely and weirdly towards certain emotional situations basically found in romatic, family and friendly relationships. DBT theory states that the arousal level of people in these cases can raise quickly than an average person and attain a high level of emotional stimulation and more time to cool down. People suffering from borderline personality disorder can experience extreme mood swings, always perceive the world in black and white and seem to be jumping from one trigger to another. The people who are close to them would understand their reactions. The sufferers don’t have any other method to cope with sudden fits, but this is where DBT comes to the rescue.
Components of DBT
- Support-oriented
This assists the person to determine their strengths and it grows on them so that the person may feel good about himself and their life.
- Cognitive-based
DBT or dialectic behavioral therapy assists in determining the thought, beliefs and presumptions that actually make their lives harder like, “I have to be a perfectionist,” or “If I get angry, I am a bad guy.” DBT deals with these thoughts and transforming them into more bearable thoughts like, “I don’t need to be perfect for making people care about me,” or “It is okay to be angry, it is a normal emotion.”
- Collaborative
Here you need constant attention to the relationships between the personnel and the clients. In DBT, people are empowered to solve their problems in their relationships with the help of their therapists and the therapists do the very same with them. This therapy also calls people for accomplishing their homework assignments and to role play new ways to interact with others and to practice skills like soothing oneself when bummed out. These very skills are quite important part of DBT and are taught in lectures every week, reviewed in weekly homework groups and referred to in every group. The personal therapist assist the person to learn, implement and master at the DBT skills.
