Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

The Goal of DBT

Each client will have their own experiences and goals for treatment and recovery, and no two journeys through healing will be the same. However, DBT is a versatile approach that seeks to provide effective coping strategies for overcoming SUD or mental health disorders and promote a more fulfilling lifestyle overall. By changing one’s thoughts and identifying self-destructive behaviors and beliefs, clients can create new perspectives and routines.

The Tenants of DBT

DBT addresses a number of key components of a client’s recovery from addiction and mental health disorders. These tenants are:

• Embracing acceptance and change: Clients will learn to embrace the reality of current life circumstances for what they are and identify feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, and other complex emotions. By identifying and accepting where one is in their recovery journey and emotional state, clients can begin creating informed plans for changing these situations.
• Behavioral change: Clients will identify self-destructive behaviors and will work to replace these behaviors with healthier alternatives for sustained sobriety and a healthy lifestyle.
• Cognitive change: Thought patterns can be just as damaging to one’s emotional health as self-destructive behaviors. Clients will learn to identify unhealthy beliefs or modes of thinking to change their perspective and inform healthier decision-making skills.
• Collaborative skills: Clients will engage in social activities and active group exercises to develop communication and social skills, building healthy relationships with peers, friends, and family members alike.
• Supportive mindset: Clients will engage in a supportive atmosphere, identifying the strengths and values of others and themselves to create a more positive perspective and unified approach to their own goals in treatment.

Creating Sustained Change

There is no single way DBT can be introduced or practiced, and we at Redpoint can integrate effective DBT practices into your treatment and daily life to best address your needs and goals. DBT can be used as a form of individual talk therapy, sitting alongside a trained professional that guides a client through proven practices and challenging their thoughts and behavioral responses to create a better understanding of one’s cognitive and behavioral impulses. Others may utilize DBT as a group therapy approach, working alongside professionals and peers to explore various perspectives and develop relationships.

Creating change involves looking at a client’s past and present to develop a plan for a transformed future. Redpoint utilizes DBT to create a truly transformative experience based on four critical tentpoles of DBT: core mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal skills, and emotional regulation.

Core Mindfulness

Core mindfulness is embracing mindfulness practices to promote a healthier state of living. By living in the present moment, an individual can understand the connection between their thoughts and behaviors, as well as how traumatic experiences and past events inform one’s present ways of thinking. Breathing techniques and other mindfulness practices provide an individual with time to make the most informed decisions when faced with emotional turmoil, rather than acting on self-destructive impulses like the use of addictive substances.

Distress Tolerance

Stress is omnipresent throughout life, and handling stress or a crisis is paramount for maintaining the transformations made in treatment. DBT helps clients practice distress tolerance by learning to distract themselves and soothing one’s emotional state, promoting a positive lifestyle.

Interpersonal Skills

Maintaining relationships is crucial throughout all stages of treatment for those overcoming SUD, mental health disorders, or a combination of them (dual-diagnosis). Clients will utilize a number of skills to identify positive relationships and foster them for a sustained, supportive relationship. Creating healthy relationships, challenging unhealthy ones, and embracing agency and accountability are all powerful aspects of Redpoint’s DBT approach.

Emotional Regulation

Emotions can be incredibly intense, and identifying the presence of intense emotions can empower clients to make more informed decisions about how to act on them. By being able to name feelings of sadness, anger, anxiety, and more, an individual can better understand these emotions and create a dedicated plan to process them in a healthy way. Emotional regulation doesn’t dismiss negative emotions but rather acknowledges them to be processed through dedicated outlets and strategies.

Whether a client is suffering from addiction, mental health disorders, or a combination therein, the trained clinicians at Redpoint are ready to create a personalized DBT approach to construct a transformed, healthy lifestyle by creating the framework for a new lifestyle inside and outside of our walls. Combined with other personalized approaches, DBT can create the base for continued personal growth by challenging self-destructive notions and championing a more positive, resilient future.

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