DBT-Informed Therapy

Thrive in the life you want to live

DBT-informed therapy – Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) – incorporates components of DBT without requiring all four modes of treatment (as with comprehensive DBT). Treatment plans are individually crafted using the components of DBT on an ‘as-needed’ basis. This track is appropriate only for individuals who have behavioral control (stage 1) and have resolved emotional avoidance/PTSD (stage 2) issues.

DBT-informed therapy can include individual therapy every week, individual every other week, skills training only with no individual therapy at all, or other variations. Really, there are no rules for this treatment path, so it’s completely up to you and what your needs are.

Individual

I weave DBT and CBT skills and principles throughout treatment as we work on continued relationship issues, residual mental health concerns, defining life goals, building self-respect or finding peace and happiness.

Many of my clients experienced profoundly invalidating environments from their families of origin due to parental narcissism. With a blend of DBT-informed therapy and prolonged exposure techniques, I can help you understand how parental narcissism continues to impact you and help you work through the anger and grief you are experiencing. I recommend this only for those where standard prolonged exposure is not better suited.

Skills training only

Another option is DBT skills training only, without individual therapy. There is research indicating ‘skills only’ is effective for certain populations, and research is growing in this area! If appropriate, ‘skills only’ is more cost-effective than comprehensive DBT.

Family and Friends

Loving someone with pervasive emotion dysregulation can be difficult for their friends and family. I offer services to family and friends to increase their understanding of their loved one’s illness, to provide them with skills training – concurrent with their loved one’s treatment – or to simply be a support for their own self-care.

Self-care is not selfish or self-indulgent. We cannot nurture others from a dry well. We need to take care of our own needs first, then we can give from our surplus, our abundance.
~ Jennifer Louden