Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) & DBT Group Therapy
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a specialized cognitive-behavioral therapy that combines individual therapy with skills group training sessions to help people manage emotions and navigate life’s difficulties.
Psychological disorders in which people suffer from high levels of emotional vulnerability, leading to them seeking DBT treatment include:
DBT treatment includes clear, easy-to-remember DBT skills that you’ll learn in weekly skills group therapy sessions. Our therapists will also relate to you in an accepting, validating manner and help you to maintain motivation to move forward.
Our Approaches
DBT skills in Family Therapy
With an easy and consistent set of skills, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an ideal way to make regular progress in personal and group therapy. Our Long Island and Manhattan family therapists are experts at applying these same skills to whole-family learning so that everyone can access the growth and change needed to move forward with acceptance.
Building Healthier relationships with DBT skills in Family therapy
Using Dialectical Behavior Therapy for families is different from individual therapy because it focuses on applying the techniques and ideas unique to DBT and making them a family practice. These same skills have a different practical approach and use when applied to groups who they connect.
Communication is an important part of productive relationships. At Suffolk DBT, we focus on finding family-forward ways to improve communication, reduce anxiety and create a more fulfilling life balance for every member of the family through five pillars of positive growth.
There are different components of DBT Skills including: individual therapy sessions, skills group training sessions and between-session phone coaching.
Weekly Individual DBT Sessions
In Individual DBT treatment, you will work toward establishing a committed, collaborative working relationship with your mental health specialist/therapist. You will have opportunities to discuss things such as struggles you have with your mood, problematic behaviors and thinking patterns, interpersonal issues, the impact of traumatic events from your past and your goals for the future.
You will be encouraged to fill out a weekly “Diary Card,” which is an easy-to-use self-monitoring chart on which you will take note of the urges, behaviors, emotions, and skills that are part of your life each day. These are discussed in sessions with your therapist so you can gain a better understanding of them, identify your patterns, and develop more effective ways of increasing skillful behaviors and decreasing unskillful ones. Your individual therapist will also work with you to anticipate and deal with times when you may struggle in motivating yourself to make important changes in your life.
Weekly DBT Skills Training
Skills groups usually start out with a mindfulness practice, followed by a review of the skills homework from the previous week, and discussion of a new skill that can be tried out over the course of the following week. Members also get the benefit of having a positive structured peer experience in which they can feel less alone with their problems, get encouragement and support, and receive feedback from others about how to apply skills to their own life stressors.
Members are encouraged to learn and master the five DBT skills modules outlined below: core mindfulness skills, distress tolerance skills, emotion regulation skills, interpersonal effectiveness skills, and middle path skills.
Distress Tolerance
High-stress situations are where our therapy tools are often most required and least accessible. In family Dialectical Behavior Therapy, you’ll be given the tools to improve your personal and collective response to stress by focusing on coping in crisis situations without making the situation worse. What you say and do affects your family members and the same holds true for what they say and do.
Personal effectiveness
Better relationships with others apply within your family groups as well. When you improve your ability to ask for what you want and cultivate a shared respect for communicating that, everyone benefits from a healthier expression of need, preference and personal awareness. Good interpersonal relationships are effective, intentional and dynamic.
Emotional Regulation
Understanding your emotions is not a linear process. Our therapists will support you in identifying the steps that create your emotional awareness to give you better control over how they happen in your daily life. Imagine a family conversation where each family member can identify, validate and express their own emotions so you can respond in kind!
Distress Tolerance
High-stress situations are where our therapy tools are often most required and least accessible. In family Dialectical Behavior Therapy, you’ll be given the tools to improve your personal and collective response to stress by focusing on coping in crisis situations without making the situation worse. What you say and do affects your family members.
Distress Tolerance
High-stress situations are where our therapy tools are often most required and least accessible. In family Dialectical Behavior Therapy, you’ll be given the tools to improve your personal and collective response to stress by focusing on coping in crisis situations without making the situation worse. What you say and do affects your family members and the same holds true for what they say and do.
Distress Tolerance
High-stress situations are where our therapy tools are often most required and least accessible. In family Dialectical Behavior Therapy, you’ll be given the tools to improve your personal and collective response to stress by focusing on coping in crisis situations without making the situation worse. What you say and do affects your family members and the same holds true for what they say and do.
