Online Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a transformative path combining cognitive-behavioral strategies with mindfulness practices to improve emotional and mental health. If you’re a young women in your 20s, 30s, and 40s experiencing stress, anxiety, and various life challenges, DBT is designed just for you. It provides a set of practical skills that promote personal empowerment, resilience, and growth.
How do you build DBT skills?
This blog post will explain DBT and DBT skills, and list each of the 4 DBT skills that can help you manage stress and emotions effectively.
What is DBT?
DBT was initially developed to treat borderline personality disorder. Its effectiveness has since made it a favored online therapy for a broad range of issues, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Efficacy rates of DBT have been encouraging, with many participants showing considerable improvements in managing intense emotions and reducing self-destructive behaviors.
At its core, DBT aims to help you build a life worth living through acceptance and change. It involves individual therapy, group skills training, and availability coaching—creating a supportive umbrella where growth can be nurtured.
What are DBT skills?
DBT skills are techniques you can apply to daily life to manage emotions, navigate interpersonal situations, and tackle the pressures that life throws you. These skills are a significant part of your coping skills tool belt, guiding you toward healthier behaviors and more productive responses.
DBT skills can serve as a lighthouse amid a storm, helping you find your way when you feel lost in chaos. DBT skills focus on enhancing your ability to remain emotionally present (Mindfulness), withstand distressing moments (Distress Tolerance), regulate emotions (Emotional Regulation), and interact more effectively with others (Interpersonal Effectiveness).
Let’s dive into these areas in more detail to understand how each skill can positively impact your mental health journey.
Mindfulness
Experience Without Mindfulness Skills:
Caught up in life’s hectic pace, you feel like you’re running on autopilot, disconnected from your emotions and the world around you.
Experience With Mindfulness Skills:
You are fully engaged with the present moment. Mindfulness fosters a sense of grounding, where you are aware of your thoughts and feelings, although not overwhelmed by them.
Ways to Grow in Mindfulness:
- Practice deep breathing techniques.
- Engage in daily meditation.
- Embrace a “one-mindfully” approach—do one thing at a time. Multitasking can cause unnecessary stress.
- Absorb yourself in sensory experiences, like savoring the taste of your food.
Distress Tolerance
Experience Without Distress Tolerance Skills:
Being overwhelmed and experiencing a crisis consumes you, leading to impulsive decisions and actions that might exacerbate problems instead of resolving them.
Experience With Distress Tolerance Skills:
You build resilience to face life’s hurdles without panic or precipitous actions. Crisis becomes more manageable, and you are equipped to find solutions calmly.
Ways to Grow in Distress Tolerance:
- Adopt self-soothing techniques—listen to music, take a warm bath, or practice gentle stretches.
- Use visualization tactics to imagine a safe space.
- Apply the TIPP technique: temperature change, intense exercise, paced breathing, paired muscle relaxation.
- Create a ‘distress tolerance kit’ with items that bring you comfort and ease.
Emotional Regulation
Experience Without Emotional Regulation Skills:
Your emotions dictate your actions, leading to a rollercoaster of moods and reactions that strain both your state of mind and your relationships.
Experience With Emotional Regulation Skills:
You learn to understand and manage your feelings, leading to a more balanced emotional life. This skill helps prevent emotional peaks and valleys, allowing for sound decision-making.
Ways to Grow in Emotional Regulation:
- Track your emotions and the events that trigger them.
- Implement problem-solving methods for distressing situations.
- Increase pleasurable activities that promote positive emotions.
- Challenge illogical thought patterns with factual evidence.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Experience Without Interpersonal Skills:
Navigating relationships is tumultuous, with unmet needs and conflict pervasive due to ineffective communication and assertiveness skills.
Experience With Interpersonal Skills:
Your connections deepen and strengthen because you advocate for yourself respectfully and respond to others wisely, maintaining healthy and satisfying relationships.
Ways to Grow in Interpersonal Skills:
- Employ the DEAR MAN technique for assertiveness: describe, express, assert, reinforce, (stay) mindful, appear confident, and negotiate.
- Practice active listening and empathetic responses.
- Set clear boundaries and communicate them to others.
- Foster mutual respect and understanding.
Conclusion
Embracing DBT skills, learned through online therapy, can foster profound transformations in how you perceive and interact with the world. Your mental health path involves continual learning and practice, and the benefits—stability, resilience, enhanced relationships—are worth the dedication.
Are you eager to hone these skills under the guidance of compassionate therapists? Makin Wellness supports your journey toward balanced and fulfilling mental wellness. Connect with us today by calling us at (833)-274-heal or scheduling an online appointment. Our team of specialized therapists is eager to guide you in enhancing your DBT skills and walking the path to personal growth and inner strength.
Amplify the power within—reach out to Makin Wellness and turn these DBT skills into lifelong strengths.
