Take the online therapy appointment now. Don't keep waiting for local care that may or might not materialize. You can always switch to in-person later if you still prefer and a spot opens up, but suffering for months on a wait list when online help is available immediately doesn't make sense. Your mental health matters now, not in six months when maybe someone local has an opening. And also having a quality therapist who specializes in your needs is much more likely to find online versus someone local if you live in a place with not a lot of mental health professionals.

Sometimes. If your medical expenses (including therapy) exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, you might be able to deduct the excess on your taxes. Most people don't hit that threshold. Using HSA/FSA gives you tax savings another way through pre-tax dollars. Consult a tax professional about your specific situation.

Anger and substance use reinforce each other. It’s important to assess whether substance use is the primary issue or is anger driving the substance use. Many therapists can help you address both together, but sometimes it requires addressing the substance abuse and anger issues separately as part of your treatment plan. If you're experiencing both, it’s important to address both.

Avoidance is how anxiety grows. It provides temporary relief but maintains anxiety long-term. The hardest part is that facing things you have avoided initially can feel worse than continuing to avoid. Your brain is screaming this is dangerous even when it's not. Therapy supports you through this short term discomfort for long term freedom. Most people say exposure was scary and difficult to do but ultimately the most valuable part of treatment. Exposure is always gradual and collaborative and you're never forced beyond what you can manage with support and skills. You’ll establish a pace that makes sense with your therapist and hold accountable to that even as things can fluctuate. Therapy helps you gradually re-engage.

Comparison doesn't invalidate your experience. Depression is a brain illness, not a proportionate response to life circumstances. You deserve help whether or not others have it worse. Your therapist helps you develop self-compassion and recognize your struggle is legitimate regardless of what others' situations may be.

Many people with BPD have unsuccessful previous treatments before finding DBT. And even if they have had DBT it wasn’t necessarily quality DBT or at the level of intensiveness that was right for them. In fact many people come to us and relay exactly this, and then are quickly surprised by how life changing our DBT therapy can be. Past failures don't predict future outcomes. It’s important to seek DBT-specific treatment, work with a therapist who has extensive training in BPD, and be committed to full treatment length. Many people succeed in DBT after years of failed treatments. The key is specialized and committed treatment.

DBT stands for Dialectical Behavior Therapy. It was originally created for people with borderline personality disorder who were suicidal and self-harming, but it turns out the skills are useful for lots of different issues. DBT helps with intense emotions, impulsive behavior, relationship problems, and basically any situation where your emotions feel overwhelming and out of control. You don't need to have BPD to benefit from DBT, plenty of people use it for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use, anger issues, ADHD, trauma & ptsd, or just general emotional regulation struggles. The core idea is teaching you practical skills to manage emotions, tolerate distress, communicate effectively, and stay present.

PLEASE is an acronym for reducing emotional vulnerability through physical self-care: PL—treat physical illness (get medical care, take prescribed meds), E—balance eating (regular meals, not too much or too little), A—avoid mood-altering drugs (alcohol and drugs mess with emotional regulation), S—balance sleep (enough sleep but not too much), E—get exercise (physical activity regulates mood). This sounds obvious but when you're depressed or stressed, these basics often go out the window. PLEASE skills recognize that physical state affects emotional state, if you're exhausted, hungry, and hungover, of course your emotions are more intense. Taking care of your body makes all other DBT skills easier to use.

The DBT Self-Guided Program is a structured online program teaching Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills you can learn and practice independently without live therapist sessions. You get lifetime access to comprehensive video therapist recordings, worksheets, practice exercises, and resources teaching the four DBT skill modules: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. The main benefit of the program is the ability to watch the video sessions at your own pace, and there’s a year's worth of videos (e.g. 48 videos with each one corresponding to a specific topic being addressed). The program is self-paced and meant to be completed on your own schedule. The content is professionally developed by licensed therapists who specialize in DBT and follows the evidence-based DBT curriculum. It's designed for people who want to learn DBT skills on their own at their own pace, or for additional accountability to adhere to DBT skills in conjunction with DBT therapy. Through watching and rewatching the videos, as well as reviewing all the worksheets, you’ll learn the material independently.

It's for personal use and certainly helpful for gaining a strong grasp of DBT skills. So the program helps with personal skill development and is helpful to refresh on DBT skills. However, while the program is certainly useful to get a good understanding of DBT for personal use, it’s important to note that it’s not a substitute for formal professional therapist training. Therapists need actual clinical DBT training to practice DBT therapy with clients. So, If you just want personal DBT understanding or client resource recommendations, the DBT self-guided program is helpful. But, of course, you cannot claim DBT competency based solely on completing this program. It should be treated as personal education which is helpful for individuals and mental health professionals with their own knowledge, but it’s not a professional credential.

Video therapist recordings plus structured format plus organized curriculum all in one place. Workbooks are great but the DBT self guided program is more comprehensive and guided than reading a book on your own. Most people are visual learners and need both detailed explanation they can watch and re-watch at their own pace, along with written materials for review and homework.