Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a therapeutic approach in which you collaborate with a therapist to explore the interrelationships among your thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behavi...
Home
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
If you feel like your emotions are getting too out of control, then Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) may help. Backed by growing research, this type of therapy is effective with a wide variety of mental health concerns. With DBT, Sierra Recovery can better help you manage your symptoms.
Is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Effective?
DBT has shown efficacy in helping reduce the symptoms of different mental health conditions. Developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan in the 1980s, DBT is now widely accepted as one of the most effective approaches that produce long-term results. In the UK, around 72% of people with major depression have noticed improved symptoms after completing a series of DBT sessions.
The same goes for those with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), which the therapy is originally supposed to address. After going through the full course of DBT, around 88% of patients with BPD have experienced more manageable symptoms.
These statistics are some of the contributing factors as to why DBT is widely used in mental health treatment. Many people who receive therapy from trained professionals can expect significant improvement in their mental health.
What Are DBT Sessions Like?
Sometimes, your emotions can be too intense and difficult to navigate or control without the right help. DBT helps people who experience very strong and uncontrollable emotions. The therapy was originally used to treat BPD, but over time, it’s also helped people struggling with other mental health challenges, such as depression and anxiety.
During your DBT sessions, your therapist will work to help you focus on acceptance and change. Therapy sessions are usually conducted one-on-one, but group training can sometimes provide more benefits.
DBT also emphasises skills training so that you’ll slowly learn how to acknowledge and accept your struggles. It isn’t about denying what you’re going through. Instead, you and your therapist will work to learn how you can accept your emotions and properly manage them.
What Does DBT Treat?
At Sierra Recovery, we know that people going through different mental health struggles face unique symptoms. As such, our team will utilise DBT in a way that will address what you are struggling with so that it becomes more manageable and helps you have a more fulfilling life.
Intense Mood Swings
During DBT sessions, you’ll learn how to regulate your emotions. If you’re dealing with unmanageable feelings of depression and sadness that affect your daily life, it can feel like the cycle never ends. The constant battle can be so tiring.
With the help of a DBT therapist, you’ll learn how to understand and manage your feelings so that they don’t take over your life. Our caring professionals will teach you how to practice mindfulness and other tools that can make you feel like you’re the one in control.
Feeling Empty
A persistent feeling of emptiness can make you feel hopeless. It can be very isolating, especially if you don’t know how to properly deal with it. These feelings can also affect the people around you who love you, making them feel helpless. DBT helps you change this outlook.
With DBT, you’ll learn how to slowly create a life with a sense of purpose. Your therapist can teach you how to pause and reflect so that you can find more meaning in your life.
Impulsive Behaviour
Impulsive behaviour may be hard to change. Just like intense mood swings, these behaviours may be difficult to break. DBT is a way to learn about distress tolerance and emotion regulation skills. This way, you can find healthier alternatives so that you don’t always give in to behaviours that can negatively affect your life.
Substance Abuse
Substance abuse often co-occurs with other mental health conditions. As such, we incorporate DBT treatment into our substance abuse programmes. This way, both areas of concern are being addressed and recovery is sustained.
During DBT, you’ll learn which thoughts and behaviours contribute to substance abuse tendencies. It’s a talk therapy that will help you learn how to face different challenges without turning to substance abuse.
Strained Relationships
Strained relationships may often be a result of uncontrollable emotions. Fighting with loved ones and miscommunication go hand-in-hand with not knowing how to navigate conflicts.
DBT incorporates interpersonal effectiveness training during treatment. Through this skill, you’ll learn how to better manage your emotions to communicate more clearly and slowly reconnect with others.
Components of DBT
For DBT to work effectively, it involves four skill areas. Working on these areas can help you better manage behaviours, thoughts, and emotions.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness will help you stay focused on the present and increase your self-awareness. Grounding techniques work on your ability to accept the current situation and learn how to work through the feelings they bring. This makes you less worried about the past or future while feeling more grounded in the present.
Distress Regulation
Distress regulation teaches you how to control and deal with intense emotions properly. It’s a skill that trains you how to identify your emotions and manage them so that you can change the way you respond to situations.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Interpersonal effectiveness is all about how you can improve and strengthen your relationships with others. This skill teaches you how to communicate your needs, set healthy boundaries, and manage conflict.
Distress Tolerance
Distress tolerance is important for learning how to accept the current reality while finding healthy ways to manage the situation. It’s a useful DBT skill for emotional emergencies where you want to avoid acting impulsively.
Other Therapies Used at Sierra Recovery
Aside from DBT, Sierra Recovery also uses other therapies for a more well-rounded recovery experience. Our team will personalise the treatment to meet your needs and goals.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT is one of the most effective tools used during treatment for different mental health conditions as well as substance abuse. During CBT, you’ll work with a therapist to identify negative thought patterns and make them healthier and more constructive. This type of therapy can make you more equipped to handle challenges more clearly and resiliently.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to help you reprocess trauma and slowly become more desensitised to it. The principle behind EMDR is that trauma is stored in the body.
Through EMDR, you can safely revisit these traumatic memories so that they don’t have the same emotional impact anymore.
Holistic Therapies
At Sierra Recovery, we also integrate holistic therapies into our treatment offerings. Mindfulness practices, art therapy, and yoga can help you find passions that can make life more meaningful.
Our team will use these holistic approaches to complement evidence-based approaches so that you can heal both the body and spirit.
What Makes DBT Unique?
DBT is a type of therapy that falls under CBT. What makes it unique is that it helps you learn the necessary life skills to live life more meaningfully. It’s not just about going into treatment and talking to a therapist.
During DBT, you’ll learn acceptance and change. These things take time, so don’t be discouraged if you aren’t able to master these skills overnight.
DBT is also an evidence-based approach. It is supported by research and many studies show how effective it is for mental health conditions. It’s a reliable tool many therapists use to manage their symptoms.
Care That Will Never Make You Feel Alone
At Sierra Recovery, we will always make sure to provide care that will never make you feel alone. Recovering from mental illnesses or substance abuse can feel incredibly isolating, but we’re here to provide the help that you deserve.
Nobody should go through these struggles without support, and we know a caring environment makes a lot of difference in healing. Whether it’s a short chat about your day or a long, therapeutic conversation about what’s bothering you, our team is always here to listen and help.
The care we provide will also be personalised to meet your needs. We know everyone is on a different timeline, and we won’t force you into a treatment programme that doesn’t suit your needs.
Our team will always check in throughout the treatment for any progress. Sierra Recovery will make the necessary adjustments and changes for a better recovery journey.
We’re Here to Help You Manage Your Emotions
If you are experiencing emotions you can’t control or want to not give in to impulsive behaviours, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Sierra Recovery has a team of professionals who provide DBT to help you manage your emotions and avoid impulsive behaviours. This way, your feelings won’t take over your life and you can live more freely and authentically.
Our team is always here to help you and answer any questions you may have about our treatment options. Your emotions should be acknowledged and managed – they shouldn’t be a barrier to your overall well-being.
Discover More Modalities and Therapies
