What Is DBT?

06:46

What Is DBT?

Rated

4.6

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

22

Ever had an emotion hit so hard it took over? This session simply explains DBT — Dialectical Behaviour Therapy — created by Marsha Linehan, originally for borderline personality disorder and intense emotional pain, but whose skills now help anyone who struggles with difficult thoughts and feelings. Learn the “dialectic” of accepting yourself and changing at the same time, and its four skill sets: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and relationships. For emotional regulation, overwhelm, anxiety, and self-understanding. Please note: This session is educational and does not replace professional mental health care.

Dbt Emotional Regulation Distress Tolerance Interpersonal Skills Mindfulness Self Acceptance Anxiety

Meet your Teacher

Melbourne VIC, Australia

Meet your Teacher

Melbourne VIC, Australia

Transcript

So what is DBT? DBT is for anyone who struggles with their thoughts and feelings that is willing to turn towards themselves. And have some skills to help them with this. Everyone struggles with thoughts and feelings. Everyone. Gets caught up in emotions in a way where they move away from the type of person that they want to be instead of towards the type of person they want to be. We all do it. Everybody does it. So what this is about is. It's a set of skills. DBT, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Built by Marsha Lynham, Is a set of skills to help us learn. Regulate our emotions. To help us with interpersonal issues and tools to help us stay grounded and connected. Mindfulness skills. As well as skills to help us. Tolerate distress. And so. . . When it first came about, It was for people that had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, BPD. But actually, Like I said, Everyone's got things that. . . They do that they would rather not do. And this is what borderline personality disorder is. It's basically when we're caught up, When we get caught up in patterns of behavior, And when those patterns of behavior become excessive, And they're not helpful. Ingrained and so when they become excessive and they're not helpful It can play out in ways where our lives. Get diminished massively and it can cause real problems. But let's kind of. . . Stay with this DBT explanation. Because. . . It's necessary to recognize that actually everybody, Like I said, Struggles with their thoughts and feelings and does things that they shouldn't. They would rather they didn't do as a result of experiencing that. Dialectical means that we can hold two truths at once. So dialectical behavioral therapy, Dialectical. Two truths at once. I accept myself as I am. And I'm willing to change some of these patterns of behavior. That are really not helpful for me and the people around me, For instance. So that's like an idea here. This is an example, Sorry, Should I say of dialectics is like. I accept myself as I am and I'm working to change. Can you see how it's like, Well, I accept myself as I am, But I'm also working to change. These two things can be held at the same time. This is one example of it. And the starting point really is like a bio-social idea. Some of us simply feel emotions more intensely. The nervous system, The amazing nervous system, If you're listening right now and you can relate to this, Your amazing nervous system has recorded certain things that happened in the past and doesn't want them to happen again in the present. And so this really is the starting point to recognize We all have our activations. We all have our triggers. And DBT can help us with this. I mentioned them earlier, But just to be nice and clear. If this resonates with you, DBT has four skill sets and I mentioned them earlier but let me just give you them again so it's nice and clear. Mindfulness is one of them. Noticing without being swept away in the moment. Right? Distress tolerance. Getting through serious overwhelm. Getting through a spike without making it worse. Emotional regulation, Number three, Emotional regulation. Understanding and shifting feelings over time. And finally. Interpersonal effective. Interpersonal effectiveness, Sorry. Right, So basically. Staying connected. Staying respectful, Saying no, Boundaries, Self-respect, That kind of thing. So mindfulness distress tolerance, Emotional regulation, And interpersonal effectiveness. Tools and strategies within each of these four modules that make up dialectical behavioral therapy. Now, We don't need a diagnosis to use these skills. They are for anyone. That is willing to use them. And big feelings are not the enemy, They're part of the human condition. And we see them in dbt. As messengers, As information to recognize that they're there to motivate us. To communicate with us. Even though they might push us into. . . Doing things that we would rather not do. So just to kind of summarise and close things off here, I hope this has been helpful for you. DBT has a radical idea. You can accept yourself. And still grow. It makes perfect sense, Doesn't it? Like we're here on Insight Timer. Is that not what we're doing here, Right? But these are life skills, Not just therapy. They're life skills and they can be for all of us. So it's worth knowing that they're there, Especially for the tough days. So I hope this has been helpful for you. Thank you so much for being here and listening to me and I wish you well in whatever you kind of research. Maybe you can find something that is dbt related and you'll probably find. Something that jumps out at you and you're like, Hey, I would like to bring that skill into my life. Because I deserve it.