What Is DBT?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment designed to help manage impulsive behaviors, emotional responses and self-destructive urges. DBT was first developed as a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment for chronically suicidal individuals with borderline personality disorder.

DBT is now shown to be highly effective treatment for many other concerns, including substance use disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating disorders.

In DBT, client and therapist work collaboratively to figure out what is getting in the way of the client’s ‘life worth living.’ Those problems are targeted to decrease while simultaneously increasing functional behaviors.

Acceptance and change strategies are interwoven throughout DBT to both validate the client’s experiences and to also push them toward their goals and the life they want to live.

Watch the video below for a nice overview of the treatment.

Who Can Benefit from DBT?

According to research findings, DBT is effective for treating:

• Borderline personality disorder, including those with co-occurring:

– Suicidal and self-harming behavior
– Substance use disorder
– Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
– High irritability

• Cluster B personality disorders
• Self-harming individuals with personality disorder
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) related to childhood sexual abuse
• Major depression, including: treatment-resistant major depression and older adults with major depression and one or more personality disorders
• Bipolar disorder
• Transdiagnostic emotion dysregulation
• Suicidal and self-harming adolescents
• Pre-adolescent children with severe emotional and behavioral dysregulation
• Binge eating disorder
• Bulimia nervosa

Among treatment approaches, DBT has the strongest efficacy for treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder!

DBT can work even when previous therapy has not!

At Tulsa DBT, I provide DBT to adults and teens in three formats. Depending on your needs, you can receive treatment in one of the following ways.

Stage 1: Comprehensive DBT

Stage 2: DBT-PE

Stages 3 & 4: DBT-Informed