The clocks fall back on Sunday, November 1, and for a lot of people that’s when the afternoons start to feel short and the evenings start to feel endless. You might be sleeping more and still waking up tired, skipping plans you’d normally look forward to, or reaching for comfort food in a way that […]
When Fall Gets Heavy: Seasonal Depression and How DBT Helps Read More »
DBT tends to get associated with crisis, and for good reason. It was built to help people survive their hardest moments, the ones where emotions run hot enough that the usual coping tools stop working. Less talked about is how much of DBT is about relationships: how to stay in them, how to repair them,
September is Suicide Prevention Month, and it is worth saying plainly: everyone’s life is worth living, including on the days that feel unbearable. That is not a slogan. It is the founding premise of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, the treatment approach at the center of our practice. Dr. Marsha Linehan, who developed DBT in the early
Suicide Prevention Month: What DBT Means by a Life Worth Living Read More »
It can be incredibly discouraging to spend years in therapy, doing everything you were told would help, and still feel like something is not quite right. You showed up. You talked through your experiences. You tried to apply what you learned. Maybe you even switched therapists, hoping something would finally click. And when it didn’t,
When Therapy Isn’t Working, It Might Not Be You: How DBT Meets You Where You Are Read More »
Pride month can bring joy, grief, relief, exhaustion, and hope all at once. For many LGBTQIA people, it is a season that highlights both the power of being seen and the cost of having to stay guarded in a world that has not always been safe. At DBT of South Jersey, we believe that affirming
Pride Month Mental Health: Finding Safety, Belonging, and Support Read More »
Many people come to therapy and gain meaningful insight into their thoughts, patterns, and past experiences. They begin to understand why they feel the way they do and where those patterns may come from. And yet, something can still feel “off.” If you have ever thought, “I understand it, but I still can’t change it,”
When Insight Isn’t Enough: Why DBT Focuses on Real-Time Change Read More »
Canceling plans can feel like the right decision in the moment. Your anxiety drops, your body relaxes, and the immediate discomfort fades. Of course, your brain takes note of that. It learns that avoiding the situation worked. The challenge is what happens next time. How Avoidance Reinforces Anxiety Avoidance is one of the most understandable
Coping skills are often one of the first tools people learn when they begin therapy. They can be incredibly helpful in getting through intense moments, taking the edge off distress, and creating enough space to move forward. But if you have ever felt like you are using coping skills every day and still ending up
Coping Skills Aren’t the Whole Picture: Why Regulation Matters in DBT Read More »
Many people move through their day feeling overwhelmed without fully understanding why. Emotions build quickly, reactions feel intense, and everything can start to blur into one general experience of “too much.” This is more common than you might think. Most people were never explicitly taught how to identify and label their emotions with accuracy. And
Why Identifying Your Emotions Is the First Step Toward Feeling More in Control Read More »
A lot of people get stuck not because they lack motivation, but because their minds get trapped in extremes. It can sound like, “I love this person or I resent them,” “I need to quit or I clearly do not care,” or “I did this wrong, so I am a failure.” If that sounds familiar,
