Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy. Its main goals are to teach people how to live in the moment, cope healthily with stress, regulate emotions, and improve relationships with others.
People undergoing DBT are taught how to effectively change their behavior using four main strategies:
Mindfulness—focusing on the present (“living in the moment").
Distress Tolerance—learning to accept oneself and the current situation. More specifically, people learn how to tolerate or survive crises using these four techniques: distraction, self-soothing, improving the movement, and thinking of pros and cons.
Interpersonal Effectiveness—how to be assertive in a relationship (for example, expressing needs and saying “no") but still keeping that relationship positive and healthy.
Emotion Regulation—recognizing and coping with negative emotions (for example, anger) and reducing one’s emotional vulnerability by increasing positive emotional experiences.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy