Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) for Adolescents

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) utilizes an innovative, highly effective treatment strategy that helps teens who have been struggling with suicidal or self-harming thoughts and behaviors.

DBT consists of weekly psychotherapy sessions in which a trained therapist works with the teen to explore recent problematic behaviors. This includes an analysis of the chain of events that led up to the behavior as well as healthy alternative solutions that might have been employed. Teens are also helped to become more aware of the barriers that interfere with healthy coping. The emphasis in DBT is on coaching teenagers to increase their skills for constructively managing emotional challenges, recognizing that healthy living inevitably requires the ability to effectively tolerate and manage distress. CATS DBT therapists are available by phone to provide coaching to teenagers to reinforce the skills that they are learning within the program.

Each teen has an adult in their life to support them

One of the most important aspects of this highly successful program is that each teen involved in this specialized treatment has an adult in their life that can support them through the process. Together, they attend a twenty week program in which they learn a variety of healthy coping skills to effectively and productively deal with life problems, including confusion regarding feelings and thoughts, impulsivity, interpersonal problems and family issues.

Proven Results

Pioneered in 1991 by Marsha Linehan, DBT therapy has been proven to:  

Ø      Decrease high-risk suicidal behaviors

Ø      Decrease responses or behaviors that interfere with therapy

Ø      Decrease behaviors that interfere with quality of life

Ø      Decrease and deal with post-traumatic stress

Ø      Enhance respect for self

Ø      Provide teens with new behavioral skills taught in a group format

Ø      Help teens set new goals for themselves

As one parent commented,

“This program with its strange name is really nothing short of a fantastic lifeboat in an ocean of emotional shark-infested waters. We, parents and child, worked together on this very serious problem. We’re not out of the woods yet, but I think we have a map and a compass now.”

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