What Is DBT? Understanding Dialectical Behavior Therapy

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by intense emotions, struggled with difficult relationships, or found yourself repeating unhealthy patterns despite your best efforts, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) may be able to help.

Originally developed by psychologist Dr. Marsha Linehan, DBT was created to support individuals experiencing chronic suicidal thoughts and Borderline Personality Disorder. Over time, however, DBT has become one of the most widely researched and effective approaches for helping people manage emotions, improve relationships, and cope with life’s challenges.

Today, DBT skills are used by people from all walks of life—not just those with specific diagnoses.

Watch the video below to learn more about Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and our DBT Skills Group at Wellspring.

Who Can Benefit from DBT?

While DBT was originally developed for a specific population, the skills taught in DBT can benefit many people.

DBT may be especially helpful if you:

• Experience intense emotions that feel difficult to manage
• Struggle with impulsive behaviors or emotional reactions
• Have recurring conflicts in relationships
• Feel stuck in unhealthy relational patterns
• Experience self-harm urges or suicidal thoughts
• Want practical tools for managing stress and emotional overwhelm

Even if none of these describe you perfectly, many people find DBT skills helpful for navigating everyday challenges and building emotional resilience.

What Is a DBT Skills Group Like?

Many people are surprised to learn that DBT skills groups function more like a class than a traditional therapy group.

Participants receive a DBT skills handbook and learn practical tools that can be applied in daily life. Each week includes:

• Learning a new skill
• Reviewing and practicing previous skills
• Homework assignments to help apply the skills outside of group
• Opportunities for discussion and questions

One concern people often have is whether they’ll be expected to share personal details. The answer is no. While participation is encouraged, group members can choose how much or how little they disclose.

The primary focus is learning and practicing skills.

The Four Core DBT Skill Areas

DBT is built around four key skill modules:

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the foundation of all DBT skills. At its core, mindfulness helps us direct our attention intentionally rather than operating on autopilot.

It teaches us how to become more aware of our thoughts, emotions, and experiences without immediately reacting to them.

Interpersonal Effectiveness

Relationships can be complicated.

Interpersonal effectiveness skills help people learn how to communicate their needs, establish healthy boundaries, maintain self-respect, and navigate conflict more effectively.

Emotion Regulation

Emotion regulation focuses on understanding emotions and how they work.

Participants learn practical strategies for identifying emotions, reducing emotional vulnerability, and responding more effectively when strong feelings arise.

Distress Tolerance

Life inevitably brings pain, stress, and crisis.

Distress tolerance skills help people survive difficult situations without making them worse. Participants learn immediate coping tools for emotional overwhelm as well as acceptance-based skills for facing realities that cannot be changed right away.

One of the central concepts in this module is radical acceptance—learning how to acknowledge reality as it is while still working toward meaningful change.

Why Does DBT Require a Commitment?

Learning DBT isn’t just about gaining information—it’s about building habits.

Research consistently shows that meaningful change comes through both learning and practicing the skills over time.

For this reason, Wellspring asks participants to commit to at least six months of group participation, with a full year strongly recommended.

The first six months are often spent learning the skills. The next six months provide opportunities to deepen, practice, and apply those skills in everyday life.

Our DBT Skills Group follows a 28-week rotation covering all four modules and repeats throughout the year, allowing new participants to join at various points in the cycle.

Interested in Joining?

If you’ve considered the commitment involved and feel that DBT might be a good fit, we’d love to talk with you.

Contact the Wellspring intake team to learn more about current DBT Skills Group openings and whether this approach may be right for you.