Those With Serious Mental Health Issues Can Be Helped Through Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one of the most firmly established types of psychotherapy commonly in practice, and one of the most effective as well

. With its focus on helping patients recognize and become aware of the thought patterns that lead to destructive and unwanted moods and behaviors (such as depression), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, employs specific goals and time frames to change people's lives in a deeply positive way. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a newer form of CBT that has been shown to have success with some of the more serious mental health issues, even those -such as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) --that had been previously thought of as essentially untreatable.

DBT uses many of the same building blocks as CBT but adds some crucial elements that its originator, Dr. Marsha Linehan, perceived as shortfalls in typical CBT treatment. Among other things, DBT adds a group therapy element that helps address social anxieties and concerns. The basic theory is that social situations, especially those that contain an inherently emotional element (such as family, friends, and romance) are prone to cause behavior that is more extreme than CBT may be designed to handle.

The main theory behind DBT is a recognition of the fact that, in some people, levels of emotion rise much more quickly in certain stressful situations than what would be considered normal, and that it often takes a lot longer for them to return to their baseline. To that end, there is a strong emphasis in DBT to learning skills that enable the person to tolerate and accept distressing situations and to regulate emotions. Group therapy has proven to be a great setting for learning these types of coping skills, offering people the opportunity to practice them in a safe, regulated, and therapeutic environment. Another focus of DBT specifically is its emphasis on acceptance and mindfulness - precepts that have their originations in Zen practice.

One interesting fact is that, as DBT has become more and more established, there have been more practitioners applying some of its precepts into standard CBT therapy. It is now fairly common to add mindfulness practice and group therapy to CBT, and the practice of mindfulness and acceptance has also begun to take hold in some methods of CBT.

When it comes to treating certain mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and binge eating - as well as some more serious problems such as Bipolar disorder, these well-established menthods - individually and together - have greatly improved lives.

by: Stephen Daniels

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