Emotions are a part of every person's daily life. They can range from joy and love to hate and disgust. Some people are more sensitive than others to emotions. People with high emotional responses are more likely to feel intensely and quickly, and they take longer to "recover" from extreme emotions.
This may be due to biological reasons or growing up in a family that dismissed one's feelings as unrealistic. Family experiences that are emotionally invalidating can prevent us from learning the skills necessary to deal with sudden, strong emotions in healthy ways. We may instead seek temporary solutions for emotional pain by engaging in destructive behaviors, such as self-injury or disordered eating.
Each solution has its own problems, which eventually leads to feeling like one is losing control of their life. Dr. Marsha Linhan developed dialectical behavior therapy services to help people better understand, experience, and regulate emotions. DBT has two parts: individual therapy and skills training group.
Skills training group focuses on emotional management, how to manage conflict, and learn ways to tolerate it. Individual therapy is about staying motivated, understanding why problems occur, and finding more effective ways to cope.
Because it attempts to balance opposites, such as acceptance and change and validation and challenge, rigidity, flexibility, and challenge — the overall therapy approach is known as "dialectical". Underlying DBT is the practice of "mindfulness. Mindfulness is a practice that is rooted in the Eastern tradition of meditation. It involves observing the present moment without judgment or impulsivity.
