How DBT Can Help Individuals Struggling With Addiction and Mental Health

By Your Health Magazine

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) offers a beacon of hope to individuals navigating the complexities of substance use disorders alongside mental health conditions by providing comprehensive treatment strategies. DBT recognizes that these co-occurring issues are often intertwined, with emotional dysregulation frequently fueling substance use as a way to escape reality.

Dialectical behavior therapy is an effective treatment that can help you build healthy coping skills, manage intense negative emotions, and reduce self-destructive behaviors. This article explores the practical DBT strategies to support lasting recovery from addiction while improving mental health symptoms.

You will learn how DBT for substance use integrates mindfulness techniques, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness to help you navigate challenges and embrace a healthier future.

Understanding Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Substance Use

Dialectical behavior therapy is a cognitive behavioral therapy developed by clinical psychology pioneer Dr Marsha Linehan. Created to treat borderline personality disorder initially, DBT has proven effective for treating various mental health conditions, including substance abuse, eating disorders, and anxiety disorders.

DBT emphasizes the balance between acceptance and change, helping individuals tolerate intense negative emotions and break free from unhealthy behaviors and negative thought patterns.

Why Dialectical Behavior Therapy Works for Substance Use Disorders

Research shows that DBT therapy is highly effective for treating substance dependence because it addresses both addictive behaviors and the underlying mental illness.

Unlike traditional addiction treatment, DBT treatment components teach behavioral skills to manage cravings, avoid relapse, and cope with negative emotions without turning to drug abuse or alcohol use. By fostering excellent emotional stability and improved behavioral control, DBT paves the way for sustainable recovery.

DBT Treatment Components for Addiction Recovery

The comprehensive treatment strategies in dialectical behavioral therapy include four key modules: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. These skills taught in DBT skills training help individuals replace destructive behaviors with healthier alternatives.

1.) Mindfulness Techniques to Stay Present

Mindfulness is the foundation of DBT for substance use. It teaches you to observe your thoughts, cravings, and emotional responses without judgment. You can recognize triggers before they lead to substance misuse. Some effective mindfulness practices include:

Focus on your breathing when cravings arise
Observe urges without acting on them, like binge eating
Ground yourself in the present moment to avoid impulsive decisions

2.) Distress Tolerance for Managing Cravings

Distress tolerance skills help you endure physical discomfort and intense emotional pain without resorting to unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol abuse or drug addiction. These strategies are crucial for relapse prevention, including:

ACCEPTS (Activities, Contributing, Comparisons, Emotions, Pushing away, Thoughts, Sensations): Distract yourself from cravings with healthy activities.
TIP Skills (Temperature, Intense Exercise, Paced breathing): Use physical techniques to reduce emotional intensity.
Pros and Cons List: Weigh the negative consequences of substance use against the benefits of sobriety.

3.) Emotional Regulation to Reduce Impulsive Behaviors

Unmanaged emotions are a major trigger for substance use. DBT helps individuals identify, understand, and respond to their emotions in healthy ways. By learning how to regulate feelings, you reduce the urge to cope through addiction. Helpful emotional regulation skills include:

Check the Facts: Challenge irrational thoughts that fuel cravings.
Opposite Action: Act opposite to your emotional urge. For example, if you feel like isolating yourself, contact a friend.
PLEASE skills (Treat Physical Illness, Eat balanced meals, Avoid mood-altering substances, Sleep well, Exercise): Maintain physical health to stabilize moods.

4.) Interpersonal Effectiveness for Healthier Relationships

Addiction often strains personal relationships, leading to stress and potential relapse. DBT’s interpersonal effectiveness skills are designed to improve communication, build stronger connections, and reduce social stress. These tools enable individuals to navigate relationships while maintaining their recovery. Some key interpersonal strategies include:

DEAR MAN (Describe, Express, Assert, Reinforce, stay Mindful, Appear confident, Negotiate): A clear and effective strategy for communicating your needs.
GIVE (Gentle, Interested, Validate, Easy manner): Maintain relationships without compromising recovery.
FAST (Fair, Apologies less, Stick to values, Truthful): Protect self-respect while setting boundaries.

These skills are vital when dealing with attachment strategies or conflict, especially in clinical practice involving family or peer support.

Practical DBT Strategies for Supporting Lasting Recovery

A DBT program includes individual therapy, group skills training, and phone coaching for crisis support. This holistic treatment approach ensures you receive personalized care while learning behavioral skills in a supportive environment.

1.) Individual Therapy for Addictive Behaviors

Individual therapy allows you to focus on addressing mental illness symptoms like major depression, self-harm thoughts, or suicidal ideation and explore behavioral chain analysis that leads to substance dependence.

In counseling sessions, a DBT therapist guides you through clinical psychology techniques, including attachment strategies tailored to your needs. This setting allows you to apply DBT skills to real-life situations and strengthen your therapeutic relationship with your counselor.

2.) Group Skills Training in Addiction Treatment

Group skills training sessions provide a supportive environment to learn and practice DBT skills with others who share similar struggles. Participating in DBT skills training helps you understand behavioral chain analysis, recognize problematic behaviors, and develop strategies to avoid the negative consequences of substance misuse.

3.) Phone Coaching for Real-Time Support

Many DBT therapy programs offer phone coaching in real-time to help you apply skills in high-risk situations such as intense cravings or emotional crises.

DBT and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Co-Occurring Disorders

If you struggle with borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, eating disorders, or other mental health conditions along with substance abuse, dialectical behavior therapy can address both issues simultaneously. Borderline personality disorder and alcohol use frequently co-occur because substance abuse is one of the potentially self-damaging impulsive behaviors that constitute diagnostic criteria for the personality disorder.

DBT provides a framework within substance abuse treatment by directly addressing the intense emotions and impulsivity that contribute to and perpetuate addiction. For mental health treatment, DBT operates on the principle of balancing acceptance of your current reality with the simultaneous need for change and growth.

Dialectical abstinence combines a total commitment to sobriety with acceptance of occasional slips. Instead of viewing relapse as a failure, DBT focuses on learning from setbacks and reinforcing relapse prevention strategies.

Embracing a Healthier Future With DBT

Recovery from alcohol abuse, substance use disorders, and mental health conditions is possible with the right tools. Dialectical behavior therapy provides healthy coping skills and effective treatment strategies to manage cravings, regulate emotions, and improve relationships.

If you are ready to take the next step in your addiction treatment, seek a DBT therapist or addiction treatment center specializing in dialectical behavior therapy, like an addiction treatment center in Riverside.