Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Certification

Explore how dialectical behavior therapy balances acceptance and change, and how therapists combine CBT, mindfulness, meditation, behaviorism, and dialectics to help patients manage thoughts, emotions, and actions.

Explore dialectical behavior therapy, learning to balance opposing thoughts and behaviors using and instead of but. Emphasize that everything is interrelated, change is continuous, and opposing forces must be combined.

Trace the history of dialectical behavior therapy from Marcia Linehan's late 1970s suicide research, combining CBT with acceptance and validating patients' feelings to treat borderline personality disorder.

Dialectical behavior therapy helps treat depression, bulimia, binge eating disorder, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and substance abuse, beyond borderline personality disorder, by reducing impulsive behavior and improving coping.

Compare dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and EMDR, highlighting differences in duration, techniques, and focus on accepting pain while managing emotions and relationships.

Explore how counseling differs from traditional therapy through confidential, non-judgmental listening, empathy, and a focus on current issues rather than history. Learn about shorter sessions and reporting risk of harm.

Counselors listen without judgment, empathize, and let clients talk instead of giving advice to work through problems using DBT-informed methods. They stay objective, calm under stress, and protect confidentiality.

Explore the differences between counseling and psychotherapy, including duration, goals, and client suitability, and see how talk therapy improves mental health and quality of life.

Explore humanistic, cognitive, and behavioral approaches, including person-centered therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, emotion-focused therapy, and gestalt therapy, noting how client history and counselor mood shape outcomes.

Explore mindfulness as one of the core DBT modules alongside distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Practice mindfulness to stay present, observe thoughts without judgment, and reduce emotional overwhelm.

Mindfulness enhances therapeutic relationships and clinician presence while reducing therapist stress, burnout, and fostering self-compassion; it also helps patients accept thoughts non-judgmentally and develop more positive thinking.

Practice mindfulness through six exercises: hand awareness, music appreciation, close your eyes, one-minute breathing, game of force, and smile at five random people. Enhance present-moment awareness and reduce stress.

Explore the foundational skills of mindfulness in dbt, learning to accept thoughts and emotions while balancing reasonable, emotional, and wise mind.

Explore the core mindfulness skills: observing, describing, and participating, and the how skills of nonjudgmental attitude, present-moment focus, and finding effective strategies.

Develop distress tolerance to cope with emotional stressors by accepting the present. Use crisis survival techniques such as distraction, self-soothing, reality acceptance, and weighing costs and benefits.

Learn dbt crisis coping skills using stop and accepts frameworks to calm, observe surroundings, breathe, and proceed with caution.

Learn to self-soothe during crises by using the five senses, touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound, to calm emotions and reduce impulsive reactions.

Learn how to accept reality to reduce suffering through three DBT strategies: radical acceptance, redirecting attention, and willingness to move on. These steps help you move toward peace with pain.

Explore how emotional regulation in DBT helps clients recognize feelings, reduce distress, and respond adaptively by using mindfulness, distress tolerance, and emotion categorization.

Explore how emotions alert us to danger and trigger fight or flight, influence interpretation, and guide verbal and nonverbal communication, while emotional regulation shapes our experiences and relationships.

Explore how extrinsic and intrinsic emotional regulation shape behavior, manage the intensity, duration, and kinds of emotions, and apply regulation techniques to support goals, communication, relationships, and mental health.

Learn how problem solving strategies regulate emotions by defining the problem, identifying obstacles, generating viable solutions, and applying them to reach desirable outcomes in real life.

Explore the please skills in dialectical behavior therapy to improve emotional regulation by addressing physical illness, balanced eating, avoiding mood-altering drugs, balancing sleep, and regular exercise.

Apply emotional regulation through the ABC skills to build mastery in daily life. Push through frustration, boost self-confidence, and celebrate progress with gratitude to sustain motivation.

Develop emotional regulation within dbt certification framework by identifying and accepting difficult feelings, expressing them healthily, and engaging in relaxing activities like deep breathing, talking to a friend, or walking.

Explore objective effectiveness, relationship effectiveness, and self respect in interpersonal effectiveness. Learn the Dearman steps—describe, express, assert, reinforce, mindful, appear confident, negotiate—to communicate clearly and maintain relationships.

Learn to develop positive relationships and end toxic ones by applying mindful listening, curiosity, conversation starters, and dbt tools like dear man, give, and fast for resolution.

Dialectical behavior therapy for substance abuse disorder guides therapist–patient collaboration, uses small hour or day-long goals, and applies emotion regulation, mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance.

Explore how dialectical behavior therapy applies to binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa, teaching mindfulness, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance to manage thoughts and emotions around eating.

DBT teaches mindfulness to manage anxiety by grounding patients in the present moment, while emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness improve communication and reduce symptoms.

Engage in one-on-one dbt therapy to build a life worth living by applying skills, tracking progress with a diary card, and mastering mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

Group skills training in DBT applies mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness in groups of 3–10, with diary card coaching, homework, and group feedback to build coping skills.

Explore DBT phone coaching and intersession contact to support clients between sessions, guide them through crises including suicidal risk, and strengthen the therapeutic relationship while protecting privacy boundaries.

Form 6 to 8-member therapist consultation groups that meet weekly or biweekly to collaboratively develop DBT treatment plans and select effective treatment models.

Explore dialectical behavior therapy (dbt), a comprehensive approach blending mindfulness and cognitive behavioral skills to manage thoughts, emotions, and behaviors through modules and treatment modes.