Dialectical behavioural therapy, or DBT as it is known, is based on cognitive behavioural therapy. However, whereas CBT is primarily focussed on changing the thought processes that underpin certain types of undesirable behaviour, DBT delves a little deeper insofar as it will also factor in emotional and social aspects of human behaviour. DBT was developed to help patients who have extreme emotional reactions to stimuli, perhaps because of extreme social behaviours they may have been exposed to and accepted as normal, and to put coping strategies in place. DBT will often take a longer time to be effective compared to CBT which is designed to offer a short-term solution. Furthermore, DBT tends to involve more group therapy compared to CBT which is primarily one-on-one and solo in its approach. DBT often seeks similar outcomes to CBT, but it deals with emotional management more than cognitive management.
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