Dialectical Behavior Therapy in Marietta, GA
Dialectical behavior therapy or commonly referred to as DBT is an evidenced-based treatment modality that helps people honor two opposites that exist at the same time and both have the truth. Dialectics can be complicated to identify. A more easily recognizable dialectic is when we have a feeling that does not fit the facts. Sometimes we have urges that are unhelpful, and at times life-threatening, and we must manage that urges while still being effective. In DBT, effectiveness is described as doing what works.
DBT has many applications to different types of people and circumstances bringing them to counseling. At Foundry Counseling, David and Karla are intensively trained in DBT and have provided various pieces of training and presentations on DBT. Christina is one of several Linehan Certified DBT therapists in Georgia.
DBT is broken down into five groups of skills:
Mindfulness
This is simply defined as awareness. With these skills, you learn how to be aware of thoughts, feelings, and urges within you, while also being aware of vulnerabilities and/or triggers in your environment. As you gain awareness of these, you are able to see opportunities to resist urges and focus on more helpful and healthy activities or thoughts, prevent the interaction with the vulnerability and/or trigger, or cope ahead if you are not able to avoid them.
Distress Tolerance
This is simply defined as putting up with an unwanted part of your reality. It could be a person, place, time of day, memory, thought, emotion, etc. With these skills, we are working to decrease our emotions as quickly as possible to prevent us from acting solely on emotion. When our emotions are high, we begin to lose our ability to think rationally. We need to get back to a place where we can consider the facts and weigh out the pros and cons of a scenario. We should get to a point where we do not need to use these on a frequent basis.
Emotional Regulation
This is a skill that we do on a daily and weekly basis to reduce vulnerability and increase stability. These could be things like consistent personal hygiene, medication adherence, exercise, accumulating positive experiences, working on a hobby, etc.
Interpersonal Effectiveness skills
These help us to interact with others in a way that works while honoring our values, needs, and as much as possible, our wants.
The Middle Path skills
These are what tie all the other skills together. They help us balance out acceptance and change, validate ourselves and others, recover from invalidation, and understand how to reinforce desired behaviors.
Adherent DBT occurs when 4 specific things are present:
Individual DBT sessions are reviewing a Diary Card and use a Behavioral Chain Analysis (BCA) as needed to look at variables leading to the problematic behavior.
DBT Skills training group focused on learning DBT skills. These groups are facilitated over a period of months that will take each group of skills one at a time.
Phone coaching is used between sessions for the client to reach out to the DBT therapist for coaching to manage a situation effectively. It is not meant to be a call when there is an active life-threatening situation. You would call 911 for this and then call the therapist after stability has been reached.
The therapist is an active participant in a consultation team.
Interested in Starting Dialectical Behavior Therapy in Marietta, GA?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, is a proven treatment modality for addressing problem behaviors in order to overcome them and get started on the path to living your best life. At Foundry Counseling our DBT Therapists are trained in the application of DBT and utilize it regularly with our clients. If you think DBT is right for you or would like to explore this treatment option, follow the steps below to get started!
Fill out our convenient online contact form here
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Other Therapy Services Offered At Foundry Counseling in Marietta, GA
In addition to DBT, we also offer a wide range of services to fit any need. These include First Responder Counseling, Christian Counseling, Substance Abuse Counseling, and Trauma Therapy. We offer a client-centered focus geared toward helping you overcome mental health challenges so you can begin living an authentic and fulfilled life.
