Our therapists offer DBT / dialectical behavior therapy in Anchorage, AK

My go-to approach for helping people in dialectical behavior therapy is balancing opposing forces of emotions and challenging or investigating the truth of intense negative emotions. I find the best benefit in DBT because helps a person get out of their head and stop overthinking, it helps a person regulate their emotions, and better navigate interpersonal relationships.

I teach the following tools in dialectical behavior therapy:

• Mindfulness - a skill that brings your mind fully to the present moment and calms intense emotions.
• Emotion regulation - gaining control over the intense emotions while still allowing yourself to feel them and express them appropriately.
• Distress tolerance - gaining the ability to tolerate negative emotion rather than needing to escape from them or acting in ways that make difficult situations worse.
• Interpersonal effectiveness - the ability to communicate your needs to others in an effective way so as to reduce resentment and social awkwardness.

I know a client is making meaningful progress in dialectical behavior therapy when the client begins to exhibit less self-harmful behavior, whether in thought or action.

Clients can supplement their time in dialectical behavior therapy with the regular practice of mindfulness int heir daily routines, and creating a safe space to experience their emotions where it doesn't effect others around them, and practicing effective communications skills and thought patterns.

To prepare for their first dialectical behavior therapy session, I encourage client to do a little of their own research on the topic and processes of DBT so they have an introduction into what is going to be accomplished in therapy.