Dialectical Behavior Therapy is the gold-standard treatment for emotion-regulation difficulty, impulsivity, and the relationship struggles that often co-occur with addiction. RECO Intensive's DBT skills group delivers the full four-module curriculum across a structured cycle, alongside individual therapy that reinforces the work.
What DBT looks like at RECO Intensive
The group runs weekly with a clinician trained in DBT methodology. The curriculum cycles through four modules: Mindfulness (the foundation), Distress Tolerance (skills for high-intensity moments), Emotion Regulation (longer-term mood work), and Interpersonal Effectiveness (relationship skills). Each session pairs teaching with structured practice and between-session homework.
Clients work with a DBT skills workbook. Skills are taught concretely, with acronyms (DEAR MAN, ACCEPTS, TIP) and behavior-chain analysis exercises that translate directly into everyday situations.
The four DBT modules
- Mindfulness: Wise Mind, observe-describe-participate, non-judgmental stance
- Distress Tolerance: TIP, ACCEPTS, radical acceptance, half-smile
- Emotion Regulation: identifying emotions, reducing vulnerability, opposite action
- Interpersonal Effectiveness: DEAR MAN, GIVE, FAST — getting needs met while preserving relationships
Who DBT serves best
Clients with borderline personality features, severe emotional dysregulation, chronic suicidality, or patterns of self-harm. Clients whose addiction was driven by emotion-numbing or impulse-management failures. Anyone whose recovery would benefit from concrete skills for high-intensity emotional moments.
How DBT integrates with the rest of treatment
DBT skills become referenced in individual therapy. Behavior chain analyses — done in group — get worked through with the primary therapist. Family work uses the interpersonal effectiveness skills as common language. The integration is one of the strengths of the modality.
Why the RECO approach is different
Many programs teach "DBT-informed" skills as a few weeks of mindfulness. We run the full DBT cycle with workbook, homework, and clinical depth — and clients leave with a toolkit that holds up under real-world stress for years afterward.