Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Who Is It For?

Not everyone out there knows the term dialectical behavior therapy, sometimes abbreviated as DBT. If you’re a therapist, you will likely have heard of it, but it’s not so well known by the general population. Still, it’s reasonably popular these days, and it’s not a bad idea to learn about it.

Those actively seeking therapy should be aware of it as a viable option in many instances.

DBT for women or men is readily available at many clinics and mental health facilities around the country. If you don’t know about it yet, though, you may not understand who it’s for. We’ll discuss that in detail right now.

What Exactly is DBT?

Dialectical behavior therapy is one of the many kinds of so-called “talk therapy.” These are therapeutic methods where the subject is encouraged to talk to a therapist, either in a one-on-one setting or as part of a group.

Dialectical behavior therapy is all about trying to treat people who are having either interpersonal conflicts with those around them or who have clinically diagnosed personality disorders. Since there are many of these individuals among the general population, it makes sense that DBT has become as popular as it has.

Who is Most Likely to Benefit from It?

This might sound simplistic or reductive, but those most likely to benefit from DBT are people who seek it out. In other words, someone who is being forced to go through this treatment because of a court order or something similar is seldom as likely to get its full benefits.

Those who seek therapy usually want to make a change in their lives, and this is as true with DBT as with other forms of cognitive behavioral therapy. Individuals who are having trouble in their lives because of mood disorders are prime candidates for this type of treatment.

Can Anyone Else Benefit from It?

Other individuals who might try DBT are those who have sampled other forms of therapy but who have not gotten the results they wanted. Many therapists have found that patients with suicidal thoughts or feelings have done well with this kind of treatment.

This is not quite the same as someone who has actually attempted suicide. Someone like that will probably be steered by a therapist to one of the treatment methods created explicitly for or aimed toward those having genuine crises.

Sometimes, individuals with substance abuse issues will do well with DBT. This is because a large part of the treatment is about identifying why a subject feels the way that they do. Say that someone is using substances because they’re self-medicating. If so, figuring out what’s troubling them on the conscious or subconscious level may be part of what discourages them from ingesting illicit substances or alcohol.

Ultimately, there are very few individuals who can’t potentially receive some benefit from DBT. Again, how much someone gets out of it will likely come down to how willing they are to dedicate themselves to making substantial, productive life changes.