DBT Therapy in California: How Dialectical Behavior Therapy Helps with Emotion Regulation

Part 1: What DBT Is and Who It’s For

Are your emotions intense, fast-moving, and hard to manage?
Do you find yourself saying things you don’t mean — or shutting down completely — during conflict?
Do you feel like your mood swings are wrecking your relationships?

If so, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) might be the toolset you’ve been missing.

At CEREVITY, we offer online DBT-informed therapy across California, including therapists who accept Aetna insurance. Our goal is simple: help you build a life you don’t need to escape from.

📞 Call (562) 295-6650 or visit https://cerevity.com/get-started

We’ll match you with a therapist trained in DBT who works with emotional dysregulation, anxiety, trauma, and more.

What Is DBT?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a highly structured, evidence-based therapy that helps people manage extreme emotions, reduce self-destructive behaviors, and improve relationships.

Originally developed for borderline personality disorder (BPD), DBT is now used to treat a wide range of conditions — including anxiety, depression, PTSD, eating disorders, and more.

It’s especially effective for people who feel:

• Emotionally reactive or “too sensitive”

• Stuck in patterns of black-and-white thinking

• Engaged in self-harming or impulsive behavior

• Anxious about abandonment or rejection

• Like their emotions are “too much” for others

The “Dialectic” in DBT: Two Things Can Be True

One of the core principles in DBT is dialectics — the idea that two seemingly opposite things can be true at the same time.

Examples:

• You can be doing your best and still need to change.

• You can feel angry and still love the person you’re mad at.

• You can feel hopeless and take action anyway.

This way of thinking helps clients move out of extremes and toward emotional flexibility.

The Four Core DBT Skills

DBT teaches concrete, actionable skills in four main categories:

1. Mindfulness

Learn how to observe your thoughts and emotions without judgment. This creates space between stimulus and response — so you can respond instead of react.

2. Distress Tolerance

These are crisis survival skills. Instead of self-sabotaging or lashing out, you’ll learn tools to tolerate emotional pain in healthy ways.

Example skills:

• Ice diving

• TIPP (temperature, intense exercise, paced breathing, progressive muscle relaxation)

• Radical acceptance

• Self-soothing with the senses

3. Emotion Regulation

Understand your emotional patterns and reduce emotional vulnerability.

Example tools:

• ABC PLEASE (accumulate positives, build mastery, cope ahead, treat physical illness, balanced eating/sleep/exercise)

• Checking the facts

• Opposite action

4. Interpersonal Effectiveness

Learn how to ask for what you need, say no, and navigate conflict without losing relationships (or yourself).

Example frameworks:

• DEAR MAN

• GIVE

• FAST

Who Is DBT Therapy For?

You don’t need a formal diagnosis of BPD to benefit from DBT. Many Californians seek DBT therapy when they’re:

• Struggling with emotional dysregulation

• Reacting strongly to perceived rejection

• Getting overwhelmed by daily stressors

• Feeling like their emotions are too big to manage

• Navigating intense relationship conflicts

• Trying to reduce self-harming behaviors

• Recovering from trauma or emotionally unavailable caregiving

DBT is also helpful for:

• LGBTQ+ individuals facing invalidation or family rejection

• Teens and young adults developing emotional resilience

• High-achievers who fall apart emotionally under stress

What Happens in a DBT Therapy Session?

Depending on your needs, DBT can be delivered in two ways:

1. DBT-Informed Individual Therapy

This is what we offer at CEREVITY — one-on-one online sessions tailored to your goals and emotional challenges. It blends DBT skills with traditional talk therapy and trauma-informed care.

You’ll work with a licensed therapist who:

• Understands how your emotions function

• Helps you track emotional triggers

• Offers real-time coaching and skills

• Validates your pain while encouraging growth

2. Comprehensive DBT (Program Format)

This includes individual therapy, weekly skills groups, phone coaching, and consultation teams. These programs are typically for severe cases (e.g., chronic suicidality or recent psychiatric hospitalization) and may require referrals.

What Makes DBT So Effective?

Most therapies aim for insight. DBT goes further — it teaches you exactly what to do when you’re overwhelmed.

That might include:

• Putting an ice pack on your neck to calm your nervous system

• Writing a DEAR MAN script to set a boundary

• Checking the facts before reacting to a partner’s tone

• Tracking your emotional patterns with a diary card

• Learning how to ride the wave of an emotion without being dragged by it

These tools create real behavioral change, not just better understanding.

DBT vs CBT: What’s the Difference?

While both are evidence-based and rooted in behavioral theory, here’s how they differ: