What is DBT Therapy?
Be it an adult, teenager, or a child, anxiety, stress, and emotional mess are situations that every person has to go through. It is important to help the sufferers deal with these cognitive issues effectively. This is where the Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) comes in. It is a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy. The primary purpose of this therapy is to assist people effectively handle their stress and anxiety, build better relationships with others, and regulate their emotions the right way. The therapy is effective for people showing signs of self-destruction, self-harm, and those who have problems with emotional regulation. Developed in the 1980s by Dr. Marsha Linehan, this therapy also treats patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Balanced Decision-Making
When making a decision to change, it's important to consider all aspects of the potential change. This will help you to make a reasoned, rational decision, rather than doing what you think you "should" do, or simply letting your emotions guide you.
Thoughts | Emotions | Behavior
There is a relationship between your thoughts and your emotions, and both can result in certain behaviors. If you change your thoughts, that changes your emotions, which in turn changes your behavior.
Chain Analysis
Follow the chain analysis prompts to help you better understand your behavior.
Stress Management
Fill in the blanks to gain a better understanding of how and when stress operates in your life.
Accepting Reality
What behaviors do you exhibit when you are refusing to accept reality? Circle those that apply. Add any additional behaviors of your own.
Analyzing Emotions
Think of something that you have recently had an emotional reaction to, and complete as much of the table as you can. Analyze each emotion separately. If the precipitating event for the emotion was another emotion, then use a separate sheet to analyze each emotion separately.
Examining Emotion
What information about yourself, the others involved, or the world in general might this emotion be offering you?
Personal Goals and Skills
Behaviors that cause you problems are linked to your thoughts and emotions. Learning to recognize these thoughts and emotions before they prompt the problem behavior can help you to short-circuit the loop and reduce the problem behavior.
Behavior Change Assessment
What behavior do you want to increase? What small steps did you take?
Emotions and Actions
Emotions are very powerful motivators. The way that they make us feel typically corresponds with certain behaviors. In the case of negative emotions, this is not always a good thing.
Distress Tolerance
List your stress triggers. Then brainstorm ways you can deal with distressing situations.
Coping Thoughts
A coping strategy is an action that you take intentionally in order to cope with something that is causing you stress. It can take between 30 and 60 repetitions to master any particular coping strategy.
Spirituality
What have you done (or do you want to do) to nurture your spiritual side?
Mindfulness Assessment
Describe an recent event in which you used mindfulness to cope.