Dialectical Behavior Therapy

DBT is a powerful therapeutic approach originally developed by Marsha Linehan for the treatment of borderline personality disorder and now applied across a range of challenging conditions. It relies on teaching core life skills such as mindfulness, healthy regulation of emotions, how to tolerate distress, and how to be effective interpersonally, and then helping individuals maintain their motivation and resolve ongoing problems as they apply these skills in a planned way.

 

Clients that begin DBT Therapy will participate in the following three core aspects:

1. Weekly individual sessions - One of the foundational principles of DBT is finding the balance between Acceptance and Change. In our individual sessions I will strive to provide an environment where you feel accepted, understood, and safe to discuss the things that cause them distress. I will also guide, coach, and encourage you to learn new behaviors and practice those behaviors to obtain different results.

2. DBT Skills Group - You will participate in a 20-26 week structured skills group where you will learn all the necessary skills to gain greater control of your emotions and behaviors. The purpose is to ensure you are learning skills while preserving individual sessions to attend to DBT clients’ personal needs. I am not currently offering skills group but will provide the names of agencies where you can enroll. 

3. Phone Coaching - Unique to DBT, clients can and should contact their therapist in-between sessions for assistance applying the skills they are learning. This type of access to their therapist can help individuals progress more quickly. In many other types of therapy, this kind of support is unavailable; research has shown, however, that the philosophy of continually working on these skills with such aid results in positive outcomes. Phone coaching is used for assistance with every-day skill usage and in the event of a crisis. 

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. It is based on several core principles, including:

1. Psychological problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking.

2. Psychological problems are based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior.

3. People suffering from psychological problems can learn better ways of coping with them, thereby relieving their symptoms and becoming more effective in their lives.

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Currently, there is more evidence available to support the effectiveness of CBT to treat adolescents and adults with a wide range of psychological difficulties than for any other treatment approach. CBT is usually a short-term, time-limited treatment that focuses on teaching clients specific coping skills to address their current problem. CBT differs from other therapy approaches in that it focuses on the ways that a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected and affect one another.

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Clients will be thoroughly evaluated at the outset of treatment to ensure the appropriateness of CBT, and will also be evaluated periodically throughout treatment to systematically assess progress. Individual CBT typically consists of psychoeducation about diagnoses and treatment, collaborative goal setting, and both cognitive and behavioral strategies, to address symptoms and prevent future relapse. For clients between the ages 13-18, parental involvement is often a key component of treatment. Clients are also expected to do homework as part of their treatment, to help generalize skills and strategies learned in session to their real lives.