​Austin DBT Groups

The DBT Skills Group is an essential part of recovery for those are struggling with addictions such as alcohol, drugs, or other problematic behaviors.  In DBT, it is taught that you are addicted when you are unable to stop a behavior pattern or use of substances, despite negative consequences and despite your best efforts to stop.  It is common people will seek DBT for help due to wanting to address the underlying issues that made them vulnerable to the addiction in the first place and to learn how to use healthier coping skills to manage triggers, relationship stressors, and emotions.  Jennifer has over 25 years of experience in group therapy helping clients work through addiction issues.    Here are specific ways the modules in DBT can help to aid someone who wants to address their addictive behaviors and maintain sobriety:   

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Mindfulness:  these skills help individuals with a history of addictive behaviors to slow down their emotional responses when triggered and to find more effective ways to accept and tolerate uncomfortable sensations, emotions, and urges.   The goal of DBT is to help individuals intervene to help themselves before they go to their problem behaviors. The Mindfulness skills help individuals to access their Wise Mind and make more effective decisions rather than allowing their mood, emotions, or "stinking thinking" thoughts to go to an impulsive behavior.

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Interpersonal Effectiveness:  these skills help individuals to learn healthy ways to be effective in relationships and to not engage in behaviors that damage the relationship.  Often individuals with addictions (i.e. alcohol, drugs), engaged in numbing behaviors or even destructive behaviors that led to damage and lack of trust issues in relationships.  These skills enable individuals to take responsibility for themselves in terms of leaning into hard conversations, making amends, and engaging in behaviors to rebuild trust and learn to communicate in ways that bring more intimacy and connection in relationships.

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Emotion Regulation:  these skills help individuals with a history of addictive behaviors to learn how to work through intense emotions rather than giving in to the addiction.    Individuals use this module to learn skills to get the root issues that were leading to uncomfortable emotions and then actually problem solve in healthy ways to build confidence in themselves and increase their sense of mastery. This module also teaches skills to help individuals take care of their body (by eating well, maintain sobriety, exercising) and to learn to cope ahead for times when they may be tempted to relapse and come up with a game plan of what they can do instead.   

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Distress Tolerance:  this module teaches the concrete coping skills that be used to replace the addictive behavior.   This module offers many options of "tools" an individual can put in their toolbox so that if a trigger or stressful event occurs, they go to these coping mechanisms instead of the addiction. The purpose of this module is to intervene and use these skills to lower the intensity of the emotion so that one is less vulnerable to act out and go to the self-harm or addictive behavior.