Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a structured therapy using an educational component to teach skills for managing intense emotions and negotiating social relationships.
What diagnoses can be treated with DBT?
DBT will teach emotional regulation skills for depression, anxiety, PTSD, bulimia/binge eating disorder, substance use, bipolar symptoms, personality disorders and self-harming behavior.
Why should I join a group?
- Start While Wait-listed: We recommend doing DBT while you are on our waitlist for an individual therapist, especially if you are going to be working on trauma issues. DBT can give you tools that will help you in your individual work, and can make your individual treatment much more effective.
- Stand-Alone or Concurrent Treatment: DBT is also a great tool to use as a stand-alone therapy treatment, or to use the group concurrently with your individual sessions.
- Feedback and Support: You get feedback and support not only from the therapist, but from other group members who have similar issues.
- Budget-Friendly: Group is also substantially less expensive than individual treatment (average cost is $6.00 per group, depending on insurance plan, once deductible is met). Attending the group before or concurrently with individual will help you reach your therapy goals faster.
What is the DBT program?
- Group meets for an hour virtually once a week
- The group is “closed”, meaning that once the module starts, the same handful of clients will be attending until it finishes.
- DBT is structured into four modules. There is often homework between group sessions.
Modules
Mindfulness enables individuals to accept and be present in the current moment by noting the fleeting nature of emotions, which reduces negative experiences of feelings. It teaches you how to slow down your reactions so you have time to choose your responses thoughtfully.
Distress Tolerance teaches you the ability to tolerate negative emotion , rather than needing to escape from them (by doing harmful behaviors, dissociating or avoiding) or acting in ways that make difficult situations worse.
Emotion Regulation teaches strategies give individuals the power to manage and change intense emotions that are causing problems in their life.
Interpersonal Effectiveness teaches how to communicate with others in a way that is assertive, maintains self-respect, and strengthens relationships. A core principle is learning how to ask directly for what you want to reduce resentment and hurt feelings.
Group Leader: Sonia Zajmi, LMHC
Ms. Zajmi is a DBT specialist, and has done both group and individual DBT work for many years. She is trained in EMDR, and Somatic Experiencing, incorporating elements of trauma informed care into all her work.
To Join:
If you would like to join the group, please fill out the contact form on the “new clients” page here New Clients . In the subject box on the form, please indicate if you would like to do just the group, or group while you wait for an individual therapist. (And if filling out the form for an individual therapist too, be sure to tell us what you want to work on, so we can match you with a therapist with that expertise).
If you are already on our waitlist, please email us at admin@spencerpsychology.com that you would like to be in the group too, and we’ll get you started.
Joining the group will not impact your place on the waitlist, and you will still be offered an individual clinician as soon as your place in line opens.