Understanding Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Core Principles of DBT
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based therapy that is rooted in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) practices but focuses on emotional regulation for clients working through psychological issues that trigger their addiction. In this therapy, you search within to make positive lifestyle changes, including mindfulness, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance.
The Dialectic: Acceptance and Change
When working through mental health disorders and addiction, the first step in DBT is to acknowledge your destructive behaviors rooted in your negative thoughts and emotional patterns. From there, you open the doors to make changes in your life and turn to productive behaviors to problem-solve.
The Benefits of DBT for Addiction Recovery
Managing Intense Emotions
In DBT, you learn how to regulate your emotions and cope with intense feelings. When handling intense emotions, it is not uncommon for clients to turn to substances to cope. DBT, though, helps you express these emotions in a productive way to promote positive behaviors that support your recovery goals.
Developing Effective Coping Skills
Practicing healthy coping mechanisms, such as mindfulness skills, distress tolerance skills, and communication skills, is crucial for addiction and mental health recovery. In both individual and group settings, you learn how to incorporate these skills into your daily life when coping with triggers and grow confident in your ability to use these skills in post-treatment life.
Improving Interpersonal Relationships
Communication skills are an important part of DBT as it is crucial for clients to healthily and clearly express themselves in order to progress further in recovery. With your therapist and your peers in group sessions, you build trust, connections, and the ability to communicate healthily with others in your life.
Addressing Co-Occurring Mental Health Conditions
When mental health conditions are present in addiction, it is important for addiction treatment to address these concerns and help you heal from them. At Red Rock Recovery Center, our DBT sessions help you identify what mental health symptoms or emotions trigger your addiction behaviors and heal from these symptoms to support your recovery.
DBT at Red Rock Recovery: A Comprehensive Approach
Individualized Treatment Plans
Every client is different, and at Red Rock Recovery Center, we make sure each client is treated as an individual. We create an individualized treatment plan for you that is catered to your needs from addiction treatment to mental health improvement to strengthening life skills.
Group Therapy Sessions
Peer support is fostered through group therapy where you share experiences, offer advice, and heal together. You build relationships with others, learn from one another, communicate productively, and create a supportive community.
Mindfulness Practices
Part of Red Rock Recovery’s approach is including holistic practices, such as mindfulness, in your treatment. You practice self-grounding in the present moment, allowing your thoughts and feelings to pass by without judgment or impulsively acting on them, and healing spiritually. The whole-person approach is emphasized here, and mindfulness is just one way we work to achieve that.
Key DBT Skills Training Modules
Mindfulness
In DBT, mindfulness is used as a key skill to promote change. You learn how to be aware of your thoughts, emotions, and experiences without judgment in order to respond productively to them rather than instinctively.
Distress Tolerance
Recognizing and managing distress is important in addiction and mental health recovery. Distress tolerance results in preventing destructive behaviors, feeling more stable and confident when coping with distress, and functioning without allowing distress to take over.
Emotion Regulation
Addiction and mental health can cause overwhelming, severe emotions. Emotional regulation, therefore, is a crucial skill in DBT as it helps you manage your reactions to emotional stimuli and reduce the intensity of your emotions in order to make healthy decisions.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Communication and working together in DBT not only builds positive relationships with peers but also gives you the skills to use with others in your life, like family members. Rather than feel isolated, you learn to accept feedback, lean on others for support, and recognize that strength and progress come from a community.
Who Can Benefit From DBT?
Individuals With Substance Use Disorder
If you’re recovering from substance use disorder, DBT may be helpful. You will learn how to practice healthy coping mechanisms, build a community, and decrease your use while managing your mental-emotional health productively.
Individuals with Co-Occurring Mental Health Conditions
Co-occurring mental health conditions, especially personality and psychological disorders, can bring on a wave of intense emotions. DBT provides you with evidence-based skills to cope with these emotions and redirect your focus on healthy behaviors.
The Role of the Therapeutic Relationship
Building relationships rooted in support is essential when coping with addiction and mental health disorders. Whether between you and your therapist, your peers, or even your family, having this space to be vulnerable and to heal is critical throughout your journey.
Finding Hope and Healing at Red Rock Recovery
Critical skills for recovery are learned here at Red Rock Recovery Center. We come together to heal and grow to not only overcome addiction and mental health conditions but also to improve our overall quality of life. No matter your needs, you will find a treatment plan that’s right for you at Red Rock Recovery Center.
Here at Red Rock Recovery Center, we offer dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for clients coping with intense emotions, whether through addiction or mental health disorders. Call us today at (855) 218-7588 to learn more about DBT and if this therapy is right for you and your journey.
