Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

The goal in DBT is to assist and empower our patient's to gain control over their emotional responses, thoughts, and behaviors, ultimately helping them lead happier and more fulfilling lives. Our therapists are deeply committed to DBT principles and work with clients to explore their personal histories, identify emotions, and practice mindfulness to better understand their experiences. The aim is to equip individuals with skills to handle their emotions skillfully rather than simply aiming to feel better. All members of The BTC are experts in DBT who attend ongoing training in order to provide the most effective high quality care for our patients. 


DBT is not just about following a strict protocol; it's about providing validation and support while fostering growth and learning. Therapists work to understand the roots of clients' emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to help them validate their experiences and learn to validate themselves. This emphasis on validation sets DBT apart from other therapies.


While DBT is widely recognized as the gold standard for treating Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), suicide and self harm, it has also been proven effective for various other conditions including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, OCD, PTSD, and eating disorders. Our team is experts in these fields and have dedicated themselves to providing the highest standard of therapy. The treatment is evidence based which means it has been rigorously studied to show that there are positive outcomes.  DBT, and Marsha Linehan, has set the standard for science and research within the mental health field.

For more information on DBT please visit the FAQ session under the Patient Information tab, and to review core research and research updates on DBT, please visit: https://behavioraltech.org/resources/faqs/dialectical-behavior-therapy-dbt/

For more information about DBT for adolescents, please check out our blog.

The BTC offers one of the few comprehensive, adherent DBT programs in Northern, NJ.

What you can expect from our comprehensive DBT program:

Our staff has gone through intensive DBT training, and has been trained by Behavioral Tech (Marsha Linehan’s training company) in both foundational and advanced trainings.

A comprehensive program, such as the one we have at BTC, integrates the following:

  1. Individual therapy: Meet with your individual therapist once a week in order to work on decreasing target behaviors and to increase effective behaviors and skills.

  2. Skills group: Meets once per week for 75-90 minutes. Here you will learn new skills in the four modules of DBT: interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and mindfulness. Each skills group consists of a mindfulness practice, homework review, and skills training through lecture and discussion. For more information about group sessions, visit our FAQ section.

  3. Skills coaching: Outside of your individual and group therapy, you are able to call your therapist or skills group leader for consultation and support. The primary goal of skills coaching is to help you generalize newly-learned skills in your everyday life.

  4. Consultation team: Our therapists participate in a weekly consultation team to ensure we are all providing effective and compassionate to the best of our capabilities. Our DBT treatment team helps keep each therapist working within a dialectical framework. The team's role is to "help the therapist think clearly about how to conceptualize the patient, the relationship, and behavioral change in DBT theoretical terms, and how to apply the treatment skillfully." (Linehan, 1993, p. 428).

  5. Ancillary care: We will reach out to your school therapists, psychiatrists and other providers in order to work as a collaborative team.