Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Elements

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, or DBT, is a powerful multi-modal treatment approach that Elements uses to address the extreme emotional intensity and dysregulation that many of our students struggle with. It’s this intense emotionality that often leads to angry, destructive or counterproductive behaviors. DBT emphasizes personal responsibility and helps our students examine how they deal with conflict and negative feelings. The goals of our DBT program include identifying maladaptive coping patterns and providing students with adaptive coping strategies to promote healthier behaviors and psychological well-being.

DBT combines the basic strategies of cognitive-behavioral therapy with mindfulness practices. DBT calls on students to accept current reality while maintaining a strong and conscious commitment to change. DBT has also been modified so that it can be used with other difficulties such as substance use, self-harm and anger management. DBT targets the issues that cause distress and teaches skills to deal with them without having to resort to self-defeating behaviors. It does so in a structured framework that helps us understand that, on the one hand, we are doing the best we can and, on the other hand, even though we can and need to learn better ways of dealing with challenges.

Specific DBT foci include:

students