DBT & CBT Groups
Mr. Patrick Cole also hosts the following groups:
Adolescent Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Group
Wednesday evenings 5:30PM to 7:00PM
This group is conducted under Denver DBT
Call Patrick at 303.909.9054 or Denver DBT direct at 303.507.5557.
Adult Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Beginning in October 2010 on Tuesday or Thursday evenings from 5:45PM to 7:15PM
This group is conducted under Denver DBT
Call Patrick at 303.909.9054 or Denver DBT direct at 303.507.5557
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Addiction Treatment
Addiction and impulsivity are often intertwined. DBT teaches four sets of skills;
Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, Distress Tolerance and Interpersonal Effectiveness.
The goal is to improve self-awareness by slowing emotional and behavioral responses
using very simple coping skills. In this way, the individual is more apt to accurately
identify the current emotion. From here, the individual learns to integrate dialectic
theory into their everyday lives. Dialect theory suggests that problems occur when
individuals view situations, or the world in general, in extreme opposites, thereby
engaging in all or nothing, right or wrong, black or white thinking. DBT seeks to
find a middle ground, to lessen the distortions and find balance. In this type of
therapy, we focus on the concept of radical acceptance and change. It teaches that
we cannot avoid discomfort in life, but we can learn skills to tolerate discomfort,
and work to change our perceptions of it. That is, it becomes acceptable to have
negative feelings or emotions, and not engage in self-defeating or self-harming
behaviors such as the abuse of substances. DBT is simple, practical and therefore
easily grasped.
We teach the skills and emphasize the importance of practicing them, in order to
realize their benefits. As mastery of skills is developed, the individual begins
to experience self-efficacy and self-actualization. In time, the skills become a
working part of the individual’s daily existence, and engaging specific skills for
difficult situations, becomes second nature. The events and situations that once
gave rise to problems, result in more reasonable, even wise ways of being. Rather
quickly, the individual practicing DBT skills is different.
