Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based approach that helps people who experience emotions very intensely and struggle to manage them. It combines practical skills for managing distress with acceptance and mindfulness, holding two things in balance at once: accepting yourself as you are, while also working towards meaningful change.
Originally developed to support people with long-standing difficulties in regulating emotions, DBT is now widely used to help with a range of challenges where overwhelming feelings, impulsivity, or unstable relationships get in the way of the life you want.
How DBT Works
DBT is built around the idea that some people feel emotions more deeply and take longer to return to baseline, and that this is something that can be understood and worked with rather than judged. The approach focuses on building practical, teachable skills across four core areas:
- Mindfulness: staying present and observing your experience without being overwhelmed by it
- Distress tolerance : getting through crisis moments without making things worse
- Emotion regulation: understanding, naming, and shifting intense emotions
- Interpersonal effectiveness : asking for what you need and setting boundaries while maintaining relationships
Your therapist works alongside you to apply these skills to real situations in your life, balancing genuine acceptance of your current difficulties with steady movement towards change.
What DBT Can Help With
This approach can be helpful for:
- Intense or rapidly shifting emotions that feel hard to control
- Difficulties with self-harm or impulsive behaviour
- Relationships that feel unstable or overwhelming
- Chronic feelings of emptiness or difficulty with identity
- Managing crisis and reducing self-destructive coping
- Emotional difficulties linked to trauma or longstanding patterns
DBT can be delivered in different formats depending on your needs, and we’ll discuss together which elements would be most helpful for your situation.
