Our therapists offer DBT / dialectical behavior therapy in Missouri City, TX

My primary approach when using dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) involves introducing clients to DBT skills tailored to their individual needs. What I find most valuable about DBT is its straightforward problem-solving approach. It offers tools designed to either change challenging situations, shift emotional reactions to these challenges, or help clients accept and tolerate their circumstances.

I cover the following tools in dialectical behavior therapy:

• Mindfulness skills: Observing and being aware of what's happening internally and externally without judging or reacting, describing your experiences and labeling emotions or sensations, and taking non-judgmental stances to cultivate an attitude of acceptance towards yourself and your experiences.
• Interpersonal effectiveness skills: Building and maintaining healthy relationships through communication and assertiveness.
• Emotion regulation skills: Identifying, recognizing, and labeling emotions; reducing vulnerability to negative emotions by taking care of physical health, managing stress, and avoiding triggers, challenging and modifying unhelpful emotional reactions and changing responses; and acting opposite to your emotional urges when they're not effective.
• Distress tolerance skills: Distracting and shifting attention away from distressing thoughts or situations temporarily, self-soothing to cope with distress, finding ways to make the current moment more tolerable, and radical acceptance of the current moment even if it's painful.

I know a client is making meaningful progress in DBT therapy when they begin to demonstrate an increased capacity for utilizing the skills and strategies effectively, showing improvements in managing the challenges they face and building confidence in who they are.

Clients can supplement their time while in DBT therapy by practicing the tools/strategies taught and using the DBT handouts to support further enhancement of their mental and emotional well-being.

To prepare for your first DBT session, you can start by jotting down any thoughts or feelings you've been experiencing lately and note any specific goals or outcomes you hope to achieve through therapy. Therapy is a collaborative process, so being prepared to engage and communicate openly can be beneficial.