top of page
Image by Jan Huber

What is DBT?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was originally created by Dr. Marsha Linehan to empower, validate, and teach skills to chronically suicidal individuals and people diagnosed with BPD.

Today, DBT has become evidenced based for other issues including addiction, binge-eating disorder, trauma, anxiety, depression, and more.

 

The goal of DBT is to learn how to not make crisis situations worse, and how to build your life worth living—whatever that means to you. In DBT, we believe that everyone is doing the best they can AND that they can do better.

 

DBT balances dialectics—two opposing truths occurring at once—particularly acceptance and change. DBT teaches radical acceptance in tolerating what is out of our control, and skills for changing what we can.

A comprehensive DBT program includes the four vital components:

  • Individual DBT Sessions

  • DBT Skills Groups

  • Phone Coaching

  • DBT Consult Team

When an individual is not receiving treatment that involves the aforementioned four components, they are not receiving comprehensive DBT treatment. However, they can still do DBT-informed psychotherapy with a DBT therapist, assuming doing so is clinically appropriate.

​

NOTE: I currently do not provide comprehensive DBT.

If your symptoms are acute and you are in need of comprehensive DBT, I am happy to provide referrals to trusted DBT programs in the DC area.

 

At my practice, I provide DBT-informed talk therapy. Which looks similar to an individual DBT therapy session, but does not involve the three other treatment components of DBT. DBT-informed therapy is only appropriate when a patient has successfully graduated comprehensive DBT and/or when a patient’s symptoms can be appropriately treated by once weekly talk therapy.

Image by madison bilsborough
bottom of page