How Long Does Philadelphia DBT Therapy Take?

DBT Takes How Long?!? Why does it take so long?

You’ve been operating the same way for years. The endless cycle of intense emotional pain; impulsive, destructive behavior; and countless relationships that have left you feeling rejected and abandoned. You’re miserable, tired, and want to give up. You wonder if you’re destined to be ashamed and doomed the rest of your life.

You’re so tired.

You’re so tired of feeling so alone. So tired of feeling embarrassed. So tired of the shame. So tired of experiencing emotional pain. So tired of living in your own personal hell.

If there’s one thing you do know, is that you hate this. You hate feeling out of control. You hate doing crazy things when you’ve been hurt by others. You’re so ashamed of yourself; of all the things you’ve done.

You keep asking yourself, “Why can’t I be like other people?”; “Why can’t I be normal?”. Like, “normal”, other people who don’t act on their impulses; who don’t act on their emotions; who don’t act crazy.

Over the years, you’ve tried it all… Or at least you thought you did. Like, trying to “stay positive” at all costs and watching so many self-help TikToks. You tried everything you could think of to not ruin relationships; not feel so crazy; to not be YOU.

You tried therapy and counseling before.

You’ve tried traditional talk therapy. You liked your therapist and felt supported. You liked only going to therapy once or twice a month. You weren’t ready to go deep; to go beyond the surface. In fact, you spent most of your session time updating her on what happened between appointments.

Therapy wasn’t working.

Yet, things weren’t getting better. Your problems weren’t getting solved. You remained in a self-destructive spiral and your therapist at the time didn’t even know.

Your therapist didn’t know because you weren’t fully honest with her. Ever since that one time you were honest, sharing that you sometimes felt like hurting yourself. She threatened to send you for inpatient treatment. Well, that wasn’t going to happen.

That’s when you decided that you’d keep it superficial. You’d keep it to supportive talk therapy once a month.

You vowed to yourself that you just wouldn’t hurt yourself. “That will be enough” you thought.

It happened again.

Then, last week, after having the worst fight ever with your beau, you actually did it. He said he couldn’t deal with the craziness; couldn’t handle your neediness. You thought your world was ending. You couldn’t think straight. All you could think about is that he was leaving you and leaving you was not acceptable. It was unthinkable. You grabbed the nearby scissors and ran it across your upper arm. You needed him to see how much pain you were in.  

That was the last time you saw or heard from him.  

You ghosted your therapist.

You realized you just couldn’t bring this up to your current therapist. So, out of fear of being sent to the hospital, you ghosted her.

What can you do now? You know you need help. You’re desperate fix this. To fix whatever hell you’re in and not be this way.

You find Philadelphia DBT.

You discover that Dialectical Behavior Therapy addresses all of your problems. You realize that DBT therapy was practically made for YOU.

As you learn more about DBT, you find out that there is A LOT involved. Like, in order to be in DBT, you need to be in weekly DBT psychotherapy AND DBT Skills Training. Goddamn, you don’t want to commit to all of this. God, you don’t want to spend all of your time in therapy. Isn’t all of this, well, overkill? 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a commitment.

I’m going to guess that you’ve been struggling for ever since you can remember. You’ve been repeating the same behavior; the same cycle, for a long time. Your problems didn’t just start overnight. The extreme, impulsive behavior didn’t begin yesterday. Your relationship problems didn’t just appear. Your intense emotional pain didn’t happen overnight.

Standard DBT is a comprehensive treatment that targets problems stemming from emotion dysregulation, such as impulsivity, suicidality, and painful relationship issues.

DBT is a targeted treatment to help people who are chronically suicidal, have problems with destructive behavior, and feel constantly out of control.

DBT is the “gold standard” treatment for BPD.

Comprehensive DBT incorporates individual psychotherapy, skills training, phone coaching, and a consultation team that your DBT therapist has for support.

That is a lot.

On the other hand, if you have borderline personality disorder, or problems with emotion dysregulation, and engage in self-harm, you need a specialized, intensive, and comprehensive treatment.

Philadelphia DBT is a time commitment AND can be the only thing to get you out of hell.

Your problems did not suddenly emerge out of thin air. They’ve been developing for a long time. Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a highly specialized treatment that targets the complex problems you’ve been suffering with for so long. It goes beyond the scope of typical, supportive talk therapy.

DBT is clear with its standards. Make no mistake, DBT is a financial and time commitment. When you’re at your wit’s end and you aren’t getting any better, it may be time to reevaluate what you need.

How long must I be in DBT?

When in DBT, you will need to commit to at least six months of treatment, which will often be extended to one year. You may feel like this is too much. While the time commitment of DBT might seem demanding, what you’ve been doing hasn’t been working for you, has it?

Real progress and lasting change requires consistent, specialized treatment.  

DBT with a Philadelphia DBT Therapist

If you’re ready to start feeling better, ditch destructive behavior that only pushes people away, deal with out of control emotions, and enhance relationships without destroying them, Dialectical Behavior Therapy can help. As a DBT therapist in Philadelphia, I’m an expert in providing DBT. I’m passionate about helping you reach your goals and solve your problems that are bringing so much suffering to your life.

Schedule a Philadelphia DBT Consultation

As a DBT therapist, I specialize in BPD treatment and anxiety therapy. When you work with me, you can rest assured that you are getting treatment from a committed, expert therapist. Are you ready to take the next step and commit to finding relief from the emotional pain? You can create a life that’s worth living, free of constant suffering and meaningful relationships.

Click HERE to book your free consultation for Dialectical Behavior Therapy.