DBT is Somatic & Experiential, not just "Behavioral"
- therapistkristina
- Mar 17
- 2 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
PART ONE: BEHAVIORAL & BEHAVIORISM
"BEHAVIORAL": comes from Behavioral Psychology, a branch of psychotherapy that began with behavioral conditioning by John Watson in 1924. Go HERE to learn more about conditioning.
BEHAVIORISM: "focuses on how people learn through their interactions with their environment. It's based on the idea that the behaviors are acquired through conditioning, which is a process of reinforcement and punishment." (www.nu.edu)
DBT IN BEHAVIORAL & BEHAVIORISM TERMS:
DBT has 4 modules of skills: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness. The skills in the modules support clients to:
manipulate their environment to reduce emotional-nervous system activation,
increase mindfulness and control their awareness to the present moment,
increase clarity on decision making with emotionally challenging situations,
participate in their relationships in ways that help them reach their goals in those relationships.
These four examples describe a person engaging with their environment by implementing behaviors that produce results they want (reinforcement). From this lens, the definition of Behaviorism applies, which is:
How can you use somatic and experiential frameworks with DBT?
How can you as a clinician or you as a client deepen DBT?
PART TWO: EXPERIENTIAL & SOMATIC
Experiential: "true client change occurs through direct, active "experiencing" of what the client is undergoing and feeling at any given point in therapy, both on the surface and at a deeper level." -APA
Somatic: "...how the body expresses deeply painful experiences, applying mind-body healing aid with trauma recovery." -Health Harvard
Experiential and Somatic modalities are appropriate for PTSD and trauma- deeply rooted and/or recent trauma; depression and anxiety; intimacy issues and other relationship issues; family of origin impacts; autism and neurodivergence, and more.
Now, let's reframe the four DBT examples above (under, "DBT IN BEHAVIORAL & BEHAVIORISM TERMS:") with experiential and somatic therapy:
Here is number ONE and number TWO combined, reframed:
Sense anxiety in the body and note it's impact on the nervous system. Next, experience the flame of a candle closely with gentle mind and vision focus while also connecting to your nervous system and the changes in anxiety.
THREE:
Draw each option for coping with an emotionally challenging situation. For example, taking a vacation, addressing challenging relationships at work by talking to people, cope with the emotions by focusing on my internal/inner experience. Be spontaneous, not focusing on the drawing itself, but the process-how does it feel in your body, what emotions arise, what feels congruent to who you are and what feels incongruent to who you are? Listen to the body and other reactions and responses to the drawing to guide your next step.
FOUR:
Prepare the Interpersonal Skill of D-E-A-R-M-A-N, for expressing your needs to someone. While preparing, consider your past self and your present self. Access your deeper self, including relationship needs, values and deep emotions; and the surface self-self that considers the practical aspects of your needs. Utilize information in your body to guide you.
I encourage you to change your orientation to DBT-know the skills as experiential and somatic and it will increase it's effectiveness and deepen it's healing potential!
For more information on DBT's powerful impacts for Avoidant Attachment, see another post here:
Resources cited:
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