Intense, distressing emotions are a part of life. For some people, they show up more frequently and with greater intensity, often triggering patterns of behavior that become hard to manage. This kind of emotional sensitivity is often misunderstood as being “too reactive,” “too emotional,” or even “broken.” At the Center for Motivation and Change, we see it differently.
We understand that emotional dysregulation is not a moral failing, but a sign that someone needs understanding, support, and effective tools for change. That’s why we offer Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) as part of our suite of evidence-based treatments designed to support meaningful, sustainable change.
While DBT is widely recognized for its effectiveness in treating borderline personality disorder, its core skills are helpful for anyone with emotional and behavioral struggles. At CMC, we use DBT as part of a deeply personalized, science-backed approach to help individuals develop greater emotional balance and lasting behavioral change.
What is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment that helps individuals manage intense emotions and effectively navigate distressing situations by balancing acceptance of the current reality with intentional change, in both how they view the situation and how they respond to it.
DBT is a type of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that encourages accepting current circumstances while working toward change to help those experiencing extremely difficult emotions. This dual focus on acceptance and change for improving well-being is the reason it’s known as a “dialectic” approach, helpful for those who often feel overwhelmed by their emotions and stuck in unhelpful behavior patterns.
DBT treatment helps you develop four core skills:
- Mindfulness: Helps you stay in the present moment, observing feelings without judgment (acceptance) rather than being carried away by them.
- Distress Tolerance: Equips you with healthy techniques for dealing with difficult situations and emotions, and even accepting situations that you can’t change.
- Emotional Regulation: Teaches you to identify, process, and manage feelings effectively instead of suppressing or letting them control how you behave.
- Interpersonal Effectiveness: Trains you to communicate clearly, set healthy boundaries, and resolve conflicts effectively.
At CMC, we don't apply DBT in a one-size-fits-all method. Instead, we draw on DBT principles when they’re the best fit for your goals, experience, and the specific difficulties you're working through.
Who Can Benefit from DBT Treatment?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy was originally developed to help people who struggle with intense emotional changes and self-harming patterns. Over time, it has been proven to be extremely helpful for a variety of emotional and behavioral challenges.
DBT treatment helps support individuals navigating:
- Emotional dysregulation, such as overwhelming anxiety or outbursts of anger
- Mental health conditions such as depression, eating disorders, and body dysmorphia
- Substance use or other compulsive behaviors
- Relationship struggles like poor communication, frequent conflicts, challenges with setting boundaries, or fear of abandonment.
- Trauma impacts
- Self-harm or suicidal behavioral patterns
We don’t just focus on your symptoms, but you as a whole person with a blend of lived experiences, personality, and goals.
During your time with us, our team takes time to understand what you’re going through. If DBT is a fit for your needs and your goals for change, we integrate it into your personalized treatment plan. You don’t have to wonder if DBT is right for you before starting. We’ll help you discover exactly what will work for you.
How does DBT Help? Benefits of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Whether you’re struggling with intense emotional shifts, relationship difficulties, or self-defeating behaviors, DBT offers tools for lasting change. It’s about cultivating a more grounded, skilled way of living—even during intense challenges.
Here are common benefits you can expect to gain from using DBT:
- Improved emotional regulation: You learn to identify emotions and triggering situations and apply meaningful responses that reduce emotional reactivity and self-defeating behavioral patterns.
- Increased distress tolerance: DBT helps you understand how to manage stressful situations effectively without avoiding or suppressing them.
- Healthier relationships: Through interpersonal skills training, you develop the ability to relate to others constructively, which in turn helps build and maintain stronger relationships.
- Reduced self-harm: This evidence-informed therapy helps develop healthy coping strategies to tough situations, thus eliminating the need to self-harm, like resorting to substance use or suicidal behaviors.
- Support for co-occurring struggles: Since DBT helps with a wide range of emotional and behavioral challenges, it helps tackle different conditions at the same time. For instance, DBT for substance use can help alleviate underlying anxiety.
- Improved cognitive functions: Attention, memory, planning, and other cognitive abilities improve with DBT.
DBT helps improve your life as a whole, something central to our approach at CMC. We use it together with other evidence-based treatments to help you achieve meaningful long-term change in your entire life.
DBT at CMC: What Makes Us Different
At the Center for Motivation and Change, we believe that change happens best when science-backed treatment is delivered with kindness. Here’s how our DBT approach stands apart:
- We use a multimodal approach. Our clinicians are trained in diverse evidence-informed practices that they blend according to your needs. Some of the most common therapies include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET), and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy.
- We never reduce you to a diagnosis. You’re not your symptoms. You’re a whole person with a unique lived experience, specific temperament, goals, and values. We keep all this in mind as we help you find the most effective strategy for change.
- We support families as well. If your loved one is struggling, DBT-informed strategies—alongside our Invitation to Change approach—can help you stay connected, compassionate, and strong. Both emphasize curiosity, collaboration, and skill-building to help you support your loved one while maintaining your well-being.
We offer DBT in person in our outpatient programs and residential program (CMC:Berkshires), in addition to Telehealth options tailored to your needs.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy FAQ: Things People Want to Know About DBT
Even though DBT was originally designed for people with BPD, it has been proven to help with a wide range of people experiencing emotional dysregulation, disruptive trauma responses, substance use, relationship struggles, and other mental and behavioral issues.