​Austin DBT Groups

DBT Skills Groups can help clients whose main problem behavior is managing the emotion of anger.   The problem can show up in the form of anger outbursts, aggressive and violent communication and behaviors, and verbal annihilation.    Jennifer has found that many of her clients seek treatment for anger management once their relationships are suffering and there have been negative consequences from those they feel close to.   Jennifer often places clients in group who struggle with anger management with other clients with similar issues as they can learn from each other's process and application of the skills.    Here is how the modules taught in DBT can help those who struggle with anger management:

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Mindfulness:  these skills help individuals to identify and label the prompting event and thoughts that come before the emotion of anger and hence the subsequent behavior.   Understanding the thoughts behind the anger is key to understanding the core issues of what the anger is related to and the often times the deeper issues that need to be worked out.    Sometimes, it is found that anger is not even the key emotion.     It is common that anger is used to cope with intense emotions of anxiety and hurt, but the anger is easier to feel and access.   Mindfulness skills help individuals to bring all of this to the surface and really gain insight into where the emotions are coming from. 

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Interpersonal Effectiveness:  these skills help individuals to be more grounded and effective in how to communicate their needs, opinions, and emotions without going to the aggressive and impulsive behaviors.  The Mindfulness skills are crucial to then learning the interpersonal skills because you need to slow down your emotional reactions when triggered to then be able to communicate effectively to others.   This module models to individuals in group how to be assertive, how to set boundaries, and how to manage self respect but still take into account the needs of others.    It is common that poor role modeling from family of origin issues is what contributes to individuals having a hard time regulating anger.  Therefore, role-plays and modeling in the group gives group members the tools they need to change their behavior patterns.   

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Emotion Regulation:  these skills help individuals who are prone to fast reactivity to anger to identify and label their emotions and work through is more confidently instead of just using anger outbursts to be heard, soothed, or get the emotion out.   These skills are meant to help individuals understand and use their emotions to their benefit and to learn the difference between valid and invalid emotions.   

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Distress Tolerance:  these skills help those are prone to quick anger to calm their nervous system and use skills to ground themselves more before interacting with others.  These skills are acceptance based skills to help those tolerate uncomfortable stressors and triggers instead of impulsively responding to others whom they may feel frustration towards.