Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) aims to arm clients with proactive skills in managing emotions and relationships. It focuses on four key areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
In the first stage (mindfulness), individuals are taught how to be more present and accepting of the current situation.
Distress tolerance zeroes in on the open-mindedness and patience regarding unpleasant emotions rather than avoiding or ignoring them.
In the third stage (emotion regulation), techniques on facilitating and changing unhealthy emotions are provided.
Finally, the interpersonal effectiveness phase trains clients to communicate assertively yet respectfully. Though DBT was initially developed to help patients with borderline personality disorder, it has been found out to be effective in treating individuals with other mental issues such as depression, substance abuse disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.