The different currents in psychology serve to offer us various alternatives to our mental health problems. It is not only that one therapy or another is better for a certain disorder, but it also depends a lot on the way of being of the patient who goes to the psychologist for help. Because the therapeutic technique that may help one person may not work for another. Therefore, you have to look for the therapy that best suits you and your needs. Do you know Dialectical Behavioral Therapy? Maybe it can help you with all those negative emotions that take over you… In this article we tell you what it consists of. 
What is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy?
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is an adaptation of the Cognitive Behavioral current in Psychology. It was proposed in the 70’s by Marsha Lineham and initially it was oriented to treat Borderline Personality Disorder. However, over time, it has also been shown to be effective in the case of eating disorders, addictions, suicidal behaviour, and disorders such as anxiety and depression.
- The basis is the same as in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Emotional disorders appear when the behaviors we perform are not adaptive or prevent us from leading a functional life. These behaviors are the product of thought that at a given moment has become our worst enemy. The way we see the world or ourselves leads to emotional suffering and different mental health problems.
- If thought and behavior reduce our quality of life, they will have to be transformed, right? And that is what Dialectical Behavioral Therapy deals with.
- How Dialectical Behavioral Therapy works
- A person who makes the decision to go to the psychologist will surely arrive unmotivated, lost and believing that they have no options. Therefore, the first thing the therapist should do is motivate that person, helping her discover or redefine her life goals and encouraging her to have certain goals.
- From there you have to train that person in some skills such as increasing tolerance to discomfort, promoting self-awareness to reduce the feeling of emptiness, improving self-esteem, learning to regulate emotions and developing social skills.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy has a standardized program that all therapists follow. The working method is in individual sessions, in group sessions and also through telephone consultation. We already warned that it is a long therapy, but let’s go step by step.
Phases of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
And in this Dialectical Behavioral Therapy there are four steps or phases that will help us solve our problem.
Phase 1
The first phase seeks to reduce the behaviors that affect the patient’s quality of life and redirect their life in a more functional, stable and healthy way. It’s time to describe life experiences without judging or criticizing, to start regulating emotions and increasing tolerance for discomfort.
Phase 2
In the second phase, work is done especially on raising awareness, looking objectively at the problem and its consequences, resolving cognitive dissonances, managing feelings of guilt and, above all, reducing the level of anguish and anxiety.
Phase 3
The third phase is used to solve problems caused by dysfunctional behavior, but also to increase self-confidence and improve self-concept. At the same time, the patient’s autonomy is developed, highlighting her achievements and capacities.
Phase 4
The fourth phase is the maintenance and validation phase. The skills acquired throughout the therapy are reinforced and the initial motivation is remembered: abandon harmful behaviors to achieve a full and meaningful life.
Why is Dialectical Behavior Therapy useful?
- There are some consequences that follow from most mental health problems. Among them are low self-esteem, frustration with life, lack of motivation, physical and mental exhaustion, emotional overflow, and the isolation to which the misunderstanding of this type of disorder leads.
- It does not matter if we talk about depression, addictions or eating disorders, because at the base of all these problems is maladaptive behavior that becomes self destructive. The need to change behaviors or the way we manage in life is evident, the difficult thing is to achieve it.
- In this sense, the support of the therapist is crucial, as well as the choice of psychological therapy that best suits each person. Or again, what problem needs to be solved first? What is more urgent to solve? It must be remembered that emotional disorders do not have a single cause, but rather are complex situations whose resolution requires addressing many aspects of the patient’s behavior and also his thoughts on her.
How Dialectical Behavior Therapy can help you with your emotions
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy can help us on several fronts.
- The most interesting skill that this therapy provides is that of managing emotions. When we understand that those emotions that we all consider negative are the product of distorted thoughts, we can begin to reduce the impact they have on our lives.
- In the same way, it is important to learn to tolerate discomfort as a necessary part of the life experience. What does this mean? Well, life is full of complicated moments, anguish, worries, nerves, instability, even real debacles, but they are a necessary part of our experiences. Nobody goes through this life without suffering, but that does not mean that we should give more importance to suffering than to happy moments, much less that we should stay stuck in suffering.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy also helps us establish life goals. In moments of emotional stress, we feel lost and tend to think that our life has no meaning. It is the effect of frustration, which with this therapy we learn to manage and thus we can get back on track, set goals, where we want to go and how we want to get there.
- It is no less important to improve self-esteem, which plummets after suffering a mental health problem. For this reason, this therapy reinforces the self-concept and we learn to value ourselves. The small achievements that are achieved during therapy are only a preview of the attitude that we will have from now on: highlighting everything that we achieve to improve our quality of life, even if they are small daily details.
Mindfulness in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
- In these times, the practice of Mindfulness in this therapy could not be missing. And despite the fact that the term is sometimes rejected as a passing fad, the truth is that it is a practice that can change our lives; to better. It should be noted that Mindfulness is not associated with any specific religion or philosophy, it is something simpler than we think and we are all capable of doing it.
- It’s a meditation practice, it’s true, but it’s also something we do many times almost without realizing it. What it is about is precisely becoming aware that we are doing it. But what are we doing? Pay attention to this precise moment, to this object in front of us, to that noise that we hear, to that sensation that has just emerged within us.
- It is also called Mindfulness because it consists of focusing our attention on something concrete. When we focus, for example, on our breathing, on how the air enters and leaves, we are concentrating our attention on something very specific. The magic happens when you spend a few minutes so focused that during that time you have forgotten your worries.
- And of course, it is impossible for us to spend the day in that state of full attention, but the habitual practice of Mindfulness helps us to give more importance to what is happening at this moment than to thoughts about the past or the future, to discern what is important from what is not, to relativize and, above all, to be aware of our vital experience in real time.