Let’s be honest. The teenage years are an emotional roller coaster. From enrolling into college to managing personal relationships, teenagers have a mix of ongoing events. The result? Intense or out of the ordinary reactions toward these situations, leading to a mix of experiences including anxiety, depression, self-harm, eating disorders and substance abuse.

But there’s hope for managing this. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a type of psychotherapy that uses individual therapy and group therapy to develop mindfulness, acceptance and communication in relationships with the self and others. And through this approach, teens focus on four core concepts:

·       Mindfulness – The practice of being fully present and aware in this one moment

·       Interpersonal effectiveness – How to ask for what you want in a respectful manner, learning to set healthy boundaries while maintaining self-respect and relationships with others

·       Distress tolerance – How to tolerate, accept and move through emotional pain in different situations, even in crisis

·       Emotional regulation – How to change your emotions through thought exercises that directly shift perspectives

You want the create the best life for your teen. Here are three reasons why your teen could benefit from DBT:

1)    Effective stress management

You’re a parent who has been through multiple life experiences – college or graduate school, marriage or divorce, career transitions, love and loss. The teenage years are often the first period in which a person is exposed to life-changing situations. Therefore, the start of “real life” stresses are just beginning. So, it’s important for teenagers to learn how to manage stress now, at the beginning of their transition into adulthood, rather than getting into adulthood only to realize that they cannot manage stress.

Stresses will always be present, whether through professional or personal situations. But effective stress management is one of the most important skillsets anyone can learn to live a truly healthy, happy life. During DBT, teenagers will grasp a better understanding of mindfulness and emotional management strategies to cope with stresses.

2)    Mental self-care

Self-care has been a big buzz word for the past 5 years, if not before then. And while self-care is often focused on how to take better care of ourselves physically, there’s a strong component tied to mental or emotional self-care. DBT uses both acceptance and change strategies. Thus, teenagers will explore how to take care of themselves mentally. Such improvements include how to say “no” during difficult situations, better self-image and asking for help.

3)    Emotional connectivity

Due to the emotional roller coaster of the teenage years, it’s unfortunate that many teens have suicidal thoughts. And these teens are often angry, intensely frustrated, depressed, unmotivated, and/or anxious. DBT helps teenagers learn how to take charge of these emotions by learning how to identify and label these emotions, identify obstacles to changing emotions and apply distress tolerance techniques. The result? A stronger connectivity to emotions which is critical to maintaining a balanced, mindful state.

Curious if DBT is right for your teenager? Contact us today to learn more about upcoming DBT sessions that can benefit your teenager.