What is DBT individual therapy?
Individual therapy, which last 60 minutes per week, may be combined to the dialectical behavior group therapy sessions. Individual therapy allows the client to expand on the way they live their difficulties with their psychologist, in order to work on improving their quality of life. At the beginning of therapy, clear treatment goals are established in collaboration with the client. The hierarchical structure of the four treatment targets help to prioritize subjects for discussion during weekly individual sessions:
- Destructive behaviors (suicide attempts, suicidal thoughts, non-suicidal self-injury, etc) constitute the primary target of therapeutic interventions, in order to increase treatment adherence.
- Behaviors which interfere with therapy (frequent tardiness or cancellations, etc.) are addressed when necessary. The goal here is to maximise the benefits of treatment.
- Behaviors which interfere with quality of life (substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, impulsive spending, etc.) are then targeted with therapeutic interventions. The goal is to develop a sound quality of life.
- The last treatment target aims to increase behavioral skills in relation to emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance as well as mindfulness.
Individual therapy sessions also represent an ideal space for the client to integrate the newly acquired knowledge in dialectical behavior group therapy to their personal life.
