Dialectical Behavior Therapy

What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)?

Dialectical behavior therapy is an offshoot of cognitive-behavioral therapy specifically created to help with borderline personality disorders. After a while, behavioral therapists began discovering that DBT can help with many other serious mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.

There are four areas that DBT focuses on:

• Mindfulness–The first step is for the therapist to observe the patient in a non-judgemental environment where they are free to express themselves. Therapists will participate by sharing their observations and helping keep teens focused on their issues.
• Distress tolerance–This area focuses on changing the patient’s perspective during stressful times or social situations that normally make them worry. Instead of obsessing over what could happen, they learn to accept the situation for what it is and not try to change it to match what they think will happen.
• Emotional regulation–This area helps patients cope with intense feelings and emotions and not let them interfere with their daily lives. Instead of letting their feelings cause anxiety or fear, they learn to take a positive approach and begin replacing their negative thinking patterns with positive ones.
• Interpersonal effectiveness–Therapists will work with patients to develop their communication skills as they learn to let others know how they feel. They learn how to speak more assertively so they are heard and recognized.

A teen dialectical behavior therapy program can help with several mental health issues, such as:

• Borderline personality disorders
• Eating disorders
• Self-harm
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Suicidal thoughts
• Fear
• Obsessive worrying

Benefits of a Teen Dialectical Behavior Therapy Program

Dialectical behavior therapy has proven to be very beneficial in helping teens lead happy and productive lives. The three key benefits of a teen DBT program include:

• Improved relationship skills–Teens work on creating healthy relationships with their friends and family and build a robust support system after treatment ends. DBT understands the value of healthy relationships and focuses on overcoming relationship issues and social fears.
• Learn coping skills that teens will use throughout their life–The mindfulness approach of DBT is useful in all aspects of a teen’s life. They will find that the coping skills they learn in DBT will also affect other areas of their life as they get older.
• Improves their quality of life–The goal of any mental health program is to improve the patient’s quality of life. DBT helps them realize that they cannot control everything that will happen and learn to accept this and move on. They accept their life as is and begin making positive changes that will significantly improve their lives.

Choose Imagine Boise for the Right Dialectical Behavior Therapy Program for Your Teen Son or Daughter

At Imagine Boise, our dialectical behavior therapy program in Idaho helps teens aged 12-17 who struggle with any number of mental health disorders. Therapists use DBT to discover the root cause behind their issues and show them how to prevent these issues from negatively affecting them. They replace negative habits with positive ones and learn to stop the endless loop of negative thinking.

Call Imagine Boise today at 888.597.2807 to speak to us about our teen dialectical behavior therapy program and how it can improve the quality of your teen’s life.