Teen DBT Program

Some young adults experience their emotions more intensely than others, stay upset longer, and have a harder time calming down than other kids their age. Intense emotions can lead to suffering, avoidance of responsibilities, and ineffective, even self-destructive coping mechanisms.

DBT teaches high school age teens skills to identify and regulate their emotions. This can be particularly helpful for teens who struggle with intense or overwhelming emotions. Our teen DBT therapists can help your teen learn to better regulate their emotions, so they feel more in control, and have the ability to make smarter choices. DBT also incorporates mindfulness practices, which can help teens develop greater awareness and acceptance of their thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy was originally designed to treat borderline personality disorder, which is characterized by difficulty with emotion regulation. It has since been shown to be helpful for all issues where regulating emotions is an issue.

Many teens struggle with forming healthy, stable interpersonal relationships. When a teen struggles, the whole family is often affected. A major goal in DBT is improving the quality of existing relationships. DBT includes skills training in interpersonal effectiveness, which can help teens improve their communication and relationship-building skills.

Teen DBT clients learn how to balance their needs with the needs of others, communicate more effectively with authority figures, and the skills required to protect and nourish their relationship with family members.

Sometimes, teens engage in concerning behaviors that, as a parent, you know could have long-term negative consequences. This includes anything from skipping school and to risky or even dangerous behaviors that need to be addressed immediately, such as substance abuse, or other risky behaviors.

Another group of common symptoms can be very distressing to others: suicidal ideation, threatening to commit suicide, attempting suicide, or engaging in self-injury (such as cutting). These issues are common for teens, and not talked about enough. Teen DBT is the best treatment for self-injury and suicidality, and if these symptoms are present they are addressed first. DBT helps teens learn to tolerate and cope with distressing situations and emotions, without engaging in harmful behaviors like self-harm, and DBT includes specific skills and strategies to help teens manage self-harm or suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Often, teens with emotion regulation issues can do or say hurtful things, act disobedient & disrespectful, or refuse to do what is required of them (at home, at school, or elsewhere). It can be very painful to watch a child engage in such concerning behaviors. A cornerstone goal of DBT is behavioral control.

Teen DBT clients learn to reduce impulsivity, weigh the long term vs. short term consequences of their actions, increase self-control, and practice saying no to their peers in high school.

"Walking the middle path" is a concept in DBT-A (Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Teens) that encourages individuals to find a balance between two opposing ideas or behaviors. It is based on the principle of dialectics, which involves finding a synthesis or balance between two seemingly opposite perspectives.

In DBT, walking the middle path involves finding a balance between, for example, acceptance and change. This means accepting oneself and the current situation, while also working to make changes and improvements in one's life. It is a way of finding a middle ground between two extremes, such as black-and-white thinking or all-or-nothing behavior.

For example, someone who struggles with binge eating may feel guilty and ashamed after eating a large amount of food, and may feel compelled to restrict their eating in response. Walking the middle path in this situation might involve acknowledging and accepting the feelings of guilt and shame, while also working to make changes in their eating behaviors in a gradual and sustainable way, rather than resorting to extreme dieting or restriction.

Another example might be someone who struggles with intense emotions and has a tendency to either suppress their emotions or become overwhelmed by them. Walking the middle path in this situation might involve learning to acknowledge and accept their emotions, while also learning to regulate and manage them in a healthy and effective way, rather than simply trying to avoid or suppress them.

Young people often respond to stressful situation with problematic behaviors. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy can help adolescents make positive changes by teaching them not to go to extremes.

In teen DBT, we provide you with a new approach and new tools young people are more responsive to. We can explore this in greater depth through “parent coaching.”

Parents may also decide to supplement their teen’s DBT-A treatment with supportive counseling for themselves.