Dialectical Behavior Therapy - DBT for Teens
Although Dialectical Behavior Therapy was initially designed to help people with borderline personality disorder (BPD), it is now widely recognized as the most effective therapy for many other disorders. Dialectical behavior therapy has been demonstrated to treat many conditions, including drug addiction, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A broad spectrum of problems may be treated with DBT for teens, making it a viable option for many people in southern California.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Although Dialectical Behavior Therapy was originally designed to help people with borderline personality disorder (BPD), it is now widely recognized as the most effective therapy for many other disorders. Dialectical behavior therapy has been demonstrated to treat many conditions, including drug addiction, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A broad spectrum of problems may be treated with DBT, making it a viable option for many people in southern California at the moment.
Benefits of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy - DBT for Teens
In DBT, the patient and therapist attempt to reconcile the seeming conflict between self-acceptance and growth to bring about good changes in the patient. Part of this process is giving affirmation, which helps individuals become more willing to collaborate and unlikely to suffer pain when they experience change. Some other benefits of Dialectical Behavior Therapy are:
- Enhances Relationships
A robust support network is crucial when coping with mental health difficulties. Many treatment methods fail to consider this and expect teenagers to tackle it alone. DBT encourages acknowledging the value of social ties in conquering obstacles. Creating healthy relationships may enhance the health and well-being of teenagers.
- Life Skills
Although the purpose of DBT is to reduce the symptoms of those living with mental disorders, it doesn’t stop there. The methods taught by the DBT therapist may be used by teenage patients in many other aspects of life too.
For example, research relates mindfulness to many other elements of health and wellness. Once you have learned this talent, it may benefit many facets of life, including work, home, and play.
- Healthy Living
One of the critical aims of DBT is to enhance the patient’s well-being. The reality is that we can’t constantly alter what occurs to us. For some, mental health difficulties will remain a part of life forever, and acceptance of this truth is vital to move on.
DBT seeks to enhance the quality of living by carefully helping individuals make adjustments to put them on track, yet simultaneously letting them realize it’s acceptable to find things challenging.
The quality of life may be significantly at risk for people experiencing powerful and intrusive feelings. Here, the distress, endurance, and emotion management modules become beneficial.
- Cognitive Improvement
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches adolescents to recognize limiting thoughts and beliefs and alienate such ideas and beliefs.
- Collaboration
Teenagers learn to speak clearly and collaborate while participating in dialectical behavior therapy.
How Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Works
Contrary to widespread expectations, dialectical behavior therapy treatment only introduces four main modules rather than six. These modules include:
Mindfulness
Teenagers are split into skill groups where they will learn how to practice mindfulness. This is an essential skill. This feeling encourages a person to live in the present and appreciate the reality of life rather than focusing on the future. In DBT programs, patients will not learn other skills until they have mastered the foundational one of being mindful persons in society.
A patient’s acceptance and tolerance of intense or overpowering emotions will improve if they become more conscious. Acceptance plays a significant role in mindfulness.
Regardless of how powerful or overpowering one’s emotions grow, one will eventually learn to embrace all events. These skills are developed over time as each teenage patient progresses through a skill set. Even in the most stressful and depressing circumstances, teenagers in dialectical behavior therapy utilize this method to take a mental break and concentrate on the good things around them.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
It is when teens have mastered mindfulness that they may learn interpersonal effectiveness. This includes developing interpersonal skills and coping with the stress of daily life.
When working on improving interpersonal effectiveness, teenagers learn how to disagree or say no to a scenario and request with clarity instead of hostility. Additionally, teens will learn how to make requests while maintaining a healthy connection and dignity with others.
Distress Tolerance
Acceptance and transformation are taught in the distress tolerance module. During this module, students will learn four primary techniques that they may use in emergencies:
- Self-soothing
- Making a tense situation less unpleasant
- Considering both the positive and negative aspects of the situation
- Creating distractions for themselves
To understand radical acceptance, one must first learn to accept oneself. Dialectical behavior therapy encourages adolescents to embrace the concept that they will confront terrible and sound events. This belief is known as radical acceptance. Hence, individuals develop the ability to look at these circumstances objectively and accept the decision regardless of the issue. There is a lot of overlap between this skill set and the first one, which is mindfulness.
Emotional Management
The last skill set among the four modules is emotional control. Mastering this strategy may be difficult if you are very emotional, but they can achieve it with the right support. An emotional control session may benefit teenagers who often feel anger, despair, anxiety, and frustration.
Those who endure regular periods of intense negative emotions may benefit from emotional regulation and control. When a person masters the discipline of self-regulation, they become less sensitive to uncomfortable emotions caused by situations they have no control over.
Consult with the Hillside Horizon for Teens team today if your teenager might benefit from dialectical behavior therapy in Southern California.