Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a cognitive behavioral treatment developed by Marsha Linehan, PhD. It emphasizes individual psychotherapy and group skills training classes to help people learn and use new skills and strategies to develop a life that they experience as worth living. DBT skills include skills for mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.
DBT is appropriate for many adolescents, and our program can help when adolescents are feeling overwhelmed by their emotions and are struggling to cope with the world around them. DBT is evidence based, and has been clinically proven to be effective in adolescents with Borderline and related personality disorders, as well as a range of other mental health issues. Our program also works with parents, who sometimes don’t know where to turn for help.
SoCal DBT’s DBT for Children program runs 26-32 weeks, and consists of one 90 minute session per week. Both children and parents (and sometimes siblings) must participate. DBT for Children (DBT-C) was developed to address treatment needs of children dealing with high emotional sensitivity and impulsive emotional behavior.
