Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

Some experiences are hard to put into words. Emotions that arrive without warning and feel impossible to manage. Relationships that cycle through closeness and rupture. A sense that you feel things more intensely than others, and that this has cost you — in your work, your relationships, and your sense of who you are.

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone, and you are not broken. What you may be experiencing is a pattern of emotional sensitivity that responds well to a specific, structured form of therapy.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was developed specifically for people who struggle with intense emotions and the behaviors that can follow from them. It is one of the most rigorously studied approaches in psychiatry, with strong evidence for borderline personality disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, self-destructive behavior, and chronic feelings of emptiness or instability.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a skills-based, evidence-informed approach that helps people manage intense emotions, reduce distress, and build more stable relationships. DBT is especially helpful for individuals who feel overwhelmed by strong emotional reactions, experience mood swings, or struggle with impulsive behaviors.

In DBT, we focus on both acceptance and change, which involves learning how to accept yourself and your experiences as they are, while also developing practical tools to respond differently when emotions feel unmanageable. Skills commonly emphasized include emotion regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness.

When incorporated into psychiatric care, DBT can work alongside medication management or support medication reduction by strengthening coping skills, emotional awareness, and resilience. Treatment is collaborative, structured, and paced to meet your individual needs, helping you feel more grounded and in control over time.

DBT may be especially helpful if you have found that traditional talk therapy hasn't been enough, or if you've been told your emotions are "too much." The skills DBT teaches — how to tolerate distress without making things worse, how to regulate your emotional state, how to stay present, and how to communicate effectively in relationships — are practical and learnable. They take time and practice, but they work.