You may have found, when browsing the internet or reading up on mental health in a magazine, a discussion of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills. With catchy acronyms like STOP, GIVE, or ABC PLEASE, and simple, actionable directions, DBT skills can seem easy enough to do on your own. You may find yourself wondering, is it possible to simply learn DBT skills on your own? Do you really need the professional guidance of a therapist?
What are the core DBT skills?
First thing’s first, what are the main categories of dialectical behavior therapy skills? If you seek out DBT skills to learn on your own, what should you be looking for?
Mindfulness
Mindfulness asks you to focus on the present moment, to connect you to the here and now. Noticing your feelings and thoughts, releasing focus on the past and future, suspending judgment, and being present in your body and mind are all components of DBT’s mindfulness skill.
Emotional regulation
Emotional regulation offers you more control over how you express your emotions and interact with your feelings, as well as the ability to cope with intense emotions. These skills allow you to encourage positive emotions and reduce the impacts of negative ones.
Distress tolerance
Difficult life situations and intense emotions are a fact of life; skills that allow you to cope with them and tolerate these challenges without engaging with unhealthy coping mechanisms are key to emotional wellbeing.
Interpersonal effectiveness
Healthy connection with other people is key to living a full life, and working to make deliberate choices in your behaviors with others, instead of allowing your emotions to take control, can help make that possible.
How does dialectical behavior therapy really work?
Now, with those skills in mind, we come to the main benefit of Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT); its structure. DBT incorporates a four-pronged therapy model to provide substantial support throughout mental health treatment. When attending a true DBT program, you will go to (1) individual therapy, (2) group therapy where you will practice a set of four categories of DBT skills, and will (3) have on-call therapist support in-between sessions to offer help in difficult life situations. Additionally, (4) your therapist will have support from other therapists, so you can have the best care possible. Programs that do not implement these four components is not a true DBT program, nor is a therapist that operates independently without their own support, or without offering DBT therapy groups to their clients.
DBT’s structure helps the healing stick
One of the major reasons why the support of therapists and group work with DBT is helpful is that it helps you make it through tough situations, and instances where skills may not work the way you hoped. Progress is never linear, and if you’re practicing DBT skills on your own, it can feel like when you aren’t progressing in the way you’d hoped. That doesn’t mean you’re failing, or that DBT won’t work for you, just that you haven’t learned the skills to their fullest extent.
DBT also helps address your deeper traumas and mental health symptoms, outside of skills practice. This deeper healing helps maintain your progress; if you’re simply using DBT skills on your own, your progress will be largely on the surface. That is real progress! But without stronger support, that is about all the progress that is possible on your own.
Difficulties of DBT
DBT can take time, which can be both frustrating, and sometimes make it difficult to incorporate it into your busy life. DBT requires a commitment to the process, which can be challenging if you have fear around therapy, or if you’re from a culture that doesn’t support attending therapy.
Therapy can also be expensive and difficult to access. It is not your fault if therapy is inaccessible to you at the moment! There can be some value in trying out DBT skills on your own, as long as you understand, you’re getting an incomplete picture of the whole capacity for DBT to help.
Self-directed DBT resources are out there
When dialectical behavior therapy with a therapist feels out of reach, there can be an appeal to seeking out DBT skills on your own to integrate into your life. The skills are set up to be easy to remember, and easy to enact in your life.
Finding the DBT skills and tools that can provide you with some support in the four major areas of DBT skills is usually the matter of a simple internet search. You can find classes, tools, and descriptions of skills that can serve you well to at least get you started, even if you won’t have the full support a true DBT program can provide.
Using DBT skills on your own
If you’re practicing dialectical behavior therapy skills on your own, there are some considerations worth taking. First off, it can be helpful to practice these skills, and while they are all meant for real-world use, it’s a good idea to find a trusted person to practice with who knows you’re practicing these skills. They can provide you feedback and help you get more out of the process.
It can also be worthwhile to track your progress as you work on DBT skills. Keep a journal, and be honest about how the skills you’re trying have helped you, and where you feel they may have fallen short. This is both useful for your own knowledge, to review so you can see your progress, and so that when you do seek out DBT with a therapist, you can show them where you’ve found success and where you could use further support.
DBT support in Seattle
Whether you’ve been trying out DBT skills on your own and feel more support would help, or if you have been curious about DBT and want to learn more about how it can help you, there is support available here in Seattle. While working through DBT skills on your own can provide you with some insights on how DBT truly helps people heal, therapists like those at THIRA Health can offer mental health treatment in Seattle, so you can access the structure and support you need to help you build a life worth living.
