Comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

What is Comprehensive DBT?

Comprehensive DBT was developed in the 1980s by Marsha M. Linehan to help treat borderline personality disorder, though it has since been used for treating multiple clinical diagnoses and mental health disorders including substance use and eating disorders.

At its core, DBT helps clients work through and learn to balance the opposing ideas of change and acceptance to allow them to thrive in the therapeutic space and in life. As clinicians, we are constantly cheerleading clients. We know that they are doing the best they can at this moment and that they want to improve, and at the same time, we can support them to do better, try harder, and be more motivated to change.

Comprehensive DBT has 4 main goals:

• Decreasing life-threatening behavior (self-harm, suicide attempts, suicide threats/thoughts) and self-injurious behavior (cutting)

• Decreasing therapy-interfering behavior (missing skills group or individual sessions, showing up late, not fully participating)

• Decreasing quality of life interfering behaviors (substance use, fights with loved ones, issues surrounding eating)

• Increasing coping skills (learning how to cope with painful emotions, learning how to deal with conflict)

Overall, the long-term focus of comprehensive DBT is to have clients work towards and eventually achieve their “life worth living” with the support of clinicians and peers. A client’s “life worth living” can be a variety of things: graduating from college, having meaningful friendships, getting along with their siblings, or even having a family one day.

What to Expect

Comprehensive DBT is made up of 4 modes of treatment: individual therapy, skill group, consultation team, and consulting team.

1. Individual Therapy:

   Clients enrolled in comprehensive DBT meet with their therapist once or twice a week and use a diary card to keep track of their behaviors from the days that they do not see their therapist.

2. Skills Group:

   The skills group at The Dorm meets twice a week for 4 hours per week and is led by a licensed clinician who has specialized training in comprehensive DBT. Across 16 sessions of intensive skills groups, clients go through four modules: Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation and Distress Tolerance.

   Once a client finishes the skills group, there is a “DBT graduate skills group” available to those clients who still want to work on improving their long term DBT skills.

   The Dorm also offers a slower, 1x a week program that meets for 1.5 hours a week.

3. Phone Coaching:

   Therapists are available to clients for skills coaching over the phone when a crisis comes up and a client does not know how to effectively cope with the crisis. This allows clients to reinforce the skills they are learning in the skills group between sessions while having the support of their individual therapist. In addition, clients have access to a 24/7 Dorm hotline which connects them directly to a Dorm clinician

4. Consult Team:

   Consult team is the fourth and final mode of treatment for comprehensive DBT. While the consult team does not directly involve clients or families, it is an important time for clinicians to consult with other clinicians on any issues that come up, counteract burnout and make sure they are able to support their client’s care at the highest level.

Who Can Benefit from Comprehensive DBT?

Comprehensive DBT can benefit everyone and anyone. It has been proven to help those with a borderline personality disorder, substance use disorder, and eating disorders. Most clients that seek out comprehensive DBT may be struggling with:

Comprehensive DBT Services at The Dorm

Comprehensive DBT is about empowering individuals to be the best version of themselves while acknowledging that they need support along the way. The Dorm is dedicated to supporting young adults as they work through painful emotions and experiences through skill-based learning and through the power of community. Our Comprehensive DBT services are an integral part of this treatment and therapeutic process.

Comprehensive DBT - New York City | Washington, DC

We offer Comprehensive DBT to young adult clients at all of our locations including The Dorm New York, NY and The Dorm Washington, DC.