Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, combines talk therapy and behavior therapy to help patients manage negative emotions, and learn interpersonal and communication skills. Unlike CBT which takes more holistic approach to a patient's belief system. DBT is focused on four main areas, mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. Negative rumination patterns and excessive worry can trigger depressive episodes or anxiety in vulnerable patients. In this area of DBT, patients can overcome this habit and improve their emotional state. In DBT, the patient is encourage to accept their circumstances and learn how to be present in the moment. Being mindful keeps the patient from ruminating over the past, which they cannot change, or the future, which they cannot predict.

At the core, DBT is about the idea of balancing opposites. During sessions, the therapist must work with the patient to find a way to balance two opposite perspective at the same time, which helps promote emotional regulation, and encourage the patient to avoid problematic black - and - white thinking. Thinking in extremes severely harms relationship and interactions, and also distort the patient's acceptance of themselves.For example, borderline patients will often fall into extreme of " I'm all bad" or "I'm all good", and those beliefs can drastically change on a dime. With DBT, the therapy promotes a both - and outlook, instead of either - or thinking.