What are the four primary components of DBT?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) helps people with a broad range of mental health issues and personal struggles gain significant relief over emotions and behaviors that were previously unmanageable.
Unlike other psychotherapies that usually use a single mode of treatment delivery, DBT has four primary components. This multifaceted approach allows more opportunities to provide individualized treatment.
How does a therapist deliver DBT services? Let’s take a closer look.
The Components of DBT
Individual Psychotherapy: Developing a supportive relationship between the counselor and client through weekly sessions. Individual therapy helps a client stay focused and motivated throughout treatment. Also, individual therapy provides practical applications for an individual’s specific issues.
DBT Skills Training: The cornerstone of DBT involves teaching a skill set that addresses accepting one’s current situation and acknowledging the need to change. Skills training involves mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. These skills are usually taught in a group setting.
Phone Coaching: Crisis situations can happen at any time. In-the-moment coaching allows the therapist to give a client real-time skills training at his or her most vulnerable times.
Consult Team: This component indirectly benefits the client and is targeted at the therapist. It requires that DBT therapists participate in weekly consult team meetings in which they get feedback on their care, and client cases, from their colleagues. The result is that clients get the benefit not only of their primary therapist but also from the broader team.
The integration of these DBT components allows the therapist a better way to connect with a client routinely and during crisis situations.