DBT Therapy NYC
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a powerful approach that helps you take charge of your emotions and strengthen your relationships. DBT is a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy that combines acceptance techniques and change techniques to help people manage difficult emotions, improve relationships, and reduce harmful behaviors. Originally developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD), DBT has proven highly effective for those experiencing anxiety, depression, PTSD, and many other mental health challenges
With DBT, you’ll embark on a deeply supportive journey, gaining the skills to create balance, boost resilience, and elevate your overall quality of life. Embrace the path to a more empowered, fulfilling life—where emotional growth and healing come together.
Balance emotions and build resilience—begin your DBT journey with us.
Ready to Transform your Emotional Well-being in NYC? Start Your DBT Therapy Journey Today
Manage Your Emotions Better with DBT Therapy in New York
DBT therapy is specifically designed to help you regulate your emotions by teaching you practical skills for managing intense feelings. A key focus of DBT is emotional regulation—the ability to understand, label, and control your emotions before they take over. This particular dialectical behavior therapy skill helps you identify emotional triggers and equips you with techniques to reduce emotional reactivity. With practice, DBT helps you create space between feeling an emotion and reacting to it, bringing clarity and control to your responses in difficult situations.
DBT empowers you to accept your emotions without letting them consume you, making it easier to manage intense feelings like anger, sadness, or anxiety. In turn, DBT strengthens your resilience, enhances emotional well-being, and equips you with healthier ways to navigate painful emotions. Studies show that DBT is particularly effective for individuals with mood disorders or emotional dysregulation, offering a path to improved emotional balance when other therapies may fall short.
How Does DBT Therapy Work?
DBT therapy is based on four core skills training modules or aspects of treatment that help you build a comprehensive core skill set to manage life’s emotional demands:
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the cornerstone of DBT, helping you increase awareness of the present moment and tune into your thoughts and emotions without judgment. Building mindfulness skills cultivates an inner calm that can reduce stress and create a space between thoughts and impulsive behaviors. We’ll guide you through simple, effective mindfulness techniques that you can practice anywhere to foster this sense of balance.
Distress Tolerance
The Distress Tolerance module is all about building resilience in the face of crises and challenging situations, helping you develop the strength to endure intense emotions without turning to impulsive actions or unhealthy coping mechanisms. You’ll learn techniques such as distraction, self-soothing, and radical acceptance that allow you to “ride the wave” of intense emotions. These coping skills empower you to face challenges head-on, building resilience to navigate difficult moments with confidence and strength
Emotional Regulation
This module provides tools to identify, understand, and manage intense emotions. It helps build your emotion regulation skills which will allow you to gain greater control over mood swings and intense feelings. We’ll teach you techniques to transform strong emotions into manageable ones, so you can react thoughtfully and effectively
Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills
Relationships can often be a source of stress, especially for those who struggle with emotional reactivity. This module teaches you interpersonal skills for effective communication, assertiveness, and boundary-setting skills, all while preserving self-respect and nurturing relationships. We’ll help you develop strategies to express your needs, say no when necessary, and maintain meaningful, healthy relationships.
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DBT vs CBT: What’s the Difference?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) are both powerful evidence-based treatments that have significantly helped people improve their mental health, but they differ in approach. Cognitive-behavioral treatment primarily focuses on identifying and challenging negative thought patterns that lead to distress and unhealthy behaviors. This structured, goal-oriented therapy, helps you recognize how thoughts influence actions and emotions. Through CBT, you’ll learn techniques to reframe negative beliefs and reduce irrational thinking. Known as a “problem-solving” therapy, CBT is often ideal for specific issues like phobias, mild anxiety, or depression.
DBT offers a holistic approach that goes beyond traditional CBT by blending change with deep emotional acceptance. Rather than solely targeting negative thoughts, DBT embraces all emotions, building a foundation of self-acceptance as a basis for transformation. With core skills in Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness, DBT equips you to manage stress, strengthen relationships, and navigate emotions with resilience and confidence in both individual and group settings. This approach is particularly beneficial for those who experience intense emotions or have a history of feeling misunderstood or invalidated.
What Issues Can Be Successfully Treated with DBT?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy has been shown to be effective for a wide range of mental health conditions, making it a versatile option for individuals with varying needs. Here are some of the mental health issues DBT can help address:
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD):
Originally developed for treating BPD, DBT is one of the most effective therapies for helping individuals with this condition manage emotional swings, improve relationships, and reduce self-destructive behaviors that are common in Borderline Personality Disorder.
Mood Disorders:
DBT is beneficial for those struggling with depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, or even disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, providing mental and behavioral skills that help stabilize moods, manage intense emotions, and reduce impulsive actions.
Anxiety Disorders:
When dealing with anxiety or panic disorder, DBT therapy for anxiety uses mindfulness training and distress tolerance modules that can help reduce the intensity of anxious thoughts and allow you to react more calmly.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD):
Trauma survivors may find DBT beneficial for gaining control over negative emotions and memories, offering grounding techniques that aid in processing trauma without feeling overwhelmed.
Substance Use Disorders and Eating Disorders:
DBT’s emphasis on managing urges and tolerating distress is ideal for individuals dealing with substance use issues or eating disorders, helping you break cycles of destructive behaviors and build healthy coping skills.
Self-Harm and Suicidality:
DBT is highly effective for individuals experiencing self-harm or suicidal thoughts and suicidal behavior, as it provides immediate skills for tolerating crises and managing intense emotional pain, keeping at bay life-threatening behaviors and emergency room visits.
Featured DBT Therapists NYC
Natalie Buchwald, LMHC
Natalie is the founder of Manhattan Mental Health Counseling. Her treatment approach emphasizes the mind-body connection, combining experiential techniques with practical, results-oriented methods.
Lee Pelletier, MHC-LP
Lee focuses on helping clients align their reality with their desired life. Utilizing Solution Focused Brief Therapy and hypnotherapy, Lee employs evidence-based techniques to help clients overcome addictions and reach their full potential.
Sandra Swartwout, LMHC
Sandra uses various therapeutic techniques, including EMDR, CBT, and Mindfulness-Based Therapy, to encourage healing and growth within a safe and empowering counseling environment.
What to Expect in a DBT Therapy Session in NYC
Individual treatment sessions using Dialectical Behavior Therapy are designed to address your individual needs in a structured, practical way. Each session typically starts with a check-in, where you discuss recent events, emotional responses, or challenges. For instance, feeling anxious after a recent argument with a friend can be a starting point for your DBT-trained therapist to help you explore the emotions and thoughts around that experience in a clinical setting. This initial discussion provides an opportunity to apply specific DBT skills, like emotional regulation or interpersonal effectiveness, to help you process the emotional experience in current situations and prepare for similar situations in the future.
Following the check-in, the session shifts to skill-building exercises tailored to one of DBT’s core modules: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotional Regulation, or Interpersonal Effectiveness. When struggling with intense sadness at night, for example, your DBT mental health professional might guide you through a distress tolerance skill building techniques, like the “TIP” skill, to help you regain calm. To reinforce your progress, your DBT therapist may assign “homework,” such as tracking current emotions or building mindfulness skills, to support your growth between sessions. Each session concludes with a reflection on what worked well and what to focus on next, helping you build a lasting skill set for managing challenges with resilience in your everyday life.
DBT therapy sessions guide you in building a toolkit for emotional resilience, helping you face challenges with strength and clarity.
What to Expect in a DBT Therapy Session in NYC
Individual treatment sessions using Dialectical Behavior Therapy are designed to address your individual needs in a structured, practical way. Each session typically starts with a check-in, where you discuss recent events, emotional responses, or challenges. For instance, feeling anxious after a recent argument with a friend can be a starting point for your DBT-trained therapist to help you explore the emotions and thoughts around that experience in a clinical setting. This initial discussion provides an opportunity to apply specific DBT skills, like emotional regulation or interpersonal effectiveness, to help you process the emotional experience in current situations and prepare for similar situations in the future
Following the check-in, the session shifts to skill-building exercises tailored to one of DBT’s core modules: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotional Regulation, or Interpersonal Effectiveness. When struggling with intense sadness at night, for example, your DBT mental health professional might guide you through a distress tolerance skill building techniques, like the “TIP” skill, to help you regain calm. To reinforce your progress, your DBT therapist may assign “homework,” such as tracking current emotions or building mindfulness skills, to support your growth between sessions. Each session concludes with a reflection on what worked well and what to focus on next, helping you build a lasting skill set for managing challenges with resilience in your everyday life.
DBT therapy sessions guide you in building a toolkit for emotional resilience, helping you face challenges with strength and clarity.
How Does New York DBT Therapy Work in an Online Setting?
Online DBT therapy delivers the same structured support and skills as in-person sessions, all accessible in a flexible, virtual setting. During these online therapy sessions, you’ll connect face-to-face with your DBT therapist in an individual therapy session, who will guide you through real-time exercises in mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance techniques, and interpersonal effectiveness.As you work through a triggering event, your individual therapist can help you apply DBT techniques immediately, fostering a supportive, interactive experience.
Digital tools like diary cards and skill-tracking apps make it easy to practice DBT skills between sessions, helping you expand your toolkit and stay connected to your progress. Whether you’re attending group or individual sessions, online therapy sessions in NYC provide a structured, supportive environment for learning, self-growth, and resilience—all accessible from the comfort of your home, your private sanctuary.
Online DBT therapy balances acceptance and change, nurturing resilience and empowering you to regain control over your emotions—all from the comfort of your own space.
Meet Your DBT Therapist in NYC Today
Unlocking emotional resilience and balance starts with the right DBT therapist—and in New York, the options can feel endless. We make it easy to find your ideal DBT therapist in NYC, connecting you with professionals who deliver expert guidance and heartfelt support.
Our New York-based DBT therapists specialize in offering compassionate, results-oriented support for a range of mental health conditions. They’re here to help you develop essential skills to navigate intense emotions, build healthier relationships, and manage stress effectively. Working with our DBT experts means you’re partnering with practitioners who have not only had extensive training in DBT but are also deeply committed to your well-being.
In a city as fast-paced as New York, having an ally in your mental health journey is invaluable. Our goal is to provide you with access to the most qualified DBT professionals NYC has to offer, helping you gain the skills and insight to thrive, no matter what daily life brings. Let us make your journey to emotional well-being accessible, practical, and empowering.
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