RO DBT Skills Group

Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT) is a cutting-edge, evidence-based behavioral treatment for adolescents and adults who overcontrol their emotions. Although many people value their ability to control themselves, a growing body of research suggests that too much control can create impediments to functioning, especially when it comes to social relationships.

Patients who excessively control their behaviors and thoughts tend to focus too much on perfection and fulfillment in their lives and often lack the flexibility necessary to establish and maintain healthy relationships. RO-DBT teaches people to break free from regulated behavior in order to increase openness and responsiveness toward others, as well as the ability to adapt to changing environmental circumstances.

To increase flexibility, patients in this type of therapy must first learn to be aware that they are thinking, acting and/or signaling to others in a closed and rigid manner. Over time, they identify areas of their lives that they find uncomfortable and therefore tend to avoid. When this awareness is combined with practical skills, these overly “Type A” teens and young adults develop and use the tools to respond flexibly to life.

This approach has helped teens and young adults who struggle with any or all of the behaviors listed below:

● Rigid and regulated behavior, as well as excessive self-control (e.g., creating and following extreme rules such as restrictive eating)
● Problems adapting to changing environmental circumstances
● Problems making new friendships or deepening current ones
● Excessive delay of gratification
● Perfectionism, disciplined behavior, and hyperfocus on results
● Hiding or avoiding having to experience and expressing emotions
● Problems with intimacy and connection
● Self-injurious and/or suicidal behaviors
● Depression and/or anxiety, especially when these problems are not resolved with therapeutic interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
● Excessive tolerance of negative emotions
● Loneliness and isolation from others
● Envy and bitterness

RO-DBT skills training

The structure of RO-DBT includes, in addition to individual therapy sessions, a skills training space, with weekly frequency and duration of approximately two hours.
The main objective of RO DBT skills training is to provide new learning and encourage self-discovery (that is, to educate participants rather than trying to “cure” them). In this way, the patient learns skills that they can use to:
- Increase self-awareness and expand the ability to recognize and adopt alternative points of view.
- Decrease inhibited and false emotional expressions.
- Reduce hyper-detailed, focused and overly cautious behaviors
- Address and relax rigid and regulated behavior.
- Decrease distant and rigid styles of relating.
- Reduce excessive social comparison and envy/bitterness.

At RO-DBT, therapists who coordinate this space are expected to adopt a teaching style that conveys enthusiasm, passion and curiosity (like the one that the best teachers tend to adopt!). To achieve this, skills training coordinators must have an in-depth understanding of the skills they will teach participants and use them themselves in their own lives. Therefore, the objective of this course is to provide a space in which professionals can
learn how to teach skills to their patients, using them first in their own lives.