Understanding and Teaching DBT's Distress Tolerance Skills

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based type of cognitive behavioral treatment for clients who have difficulty regulating emotions and behaviors. DBT was introduced by the developer Marsha Linehan, Ph.D. as a treatment for individuals with suicidal and self-harm behaviors diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Over the years, research has demonstrated that it is also effective in treating other disorders such as depression, substance dependence, eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). DBT teaches individuals new skills to cope with these problems in a new way; without engaging in problem behaviors. DBT treatment includes 4 modules: Core Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness.

In the workshop, participants will be introduced to DBT and will learn skills from the Distress Tolerance module. The Distress Tolerance module teaches clients how to tolerate crisis situations (e.g. intense emotional pain, urges to engage in an impulsive behavior) without making them worse (e.g. self-harm, yelling).

The workshop will cover the following topics:

1. Brief overview of DBT

2. Distress Tolerance as defined by DBT

3. Distress Tolerance Skills

The workshop will be both didactic and experiential to enhance participant's ability to use the Distress Tolerance skills with clients.

Target audience: clinicians, all levels, who are interested in enhancing their ability to teach concrete skills to their clients. This workshop would be most helpful for clinicians who work with problems such as suicidality, self-harm, substance abuse, eating disorders, and impulsive behavior.