DBT for Bipolar Disorder: 4 Dialect Dilemmas and Distress Tolerance Skills

United States Department of Homeland Security

When teaching DBT concepts to our clients, it’s important to utilize user-friendly language as opposed to technical jargon.
It’s more important to focus on the specific symptoms of each unique client than the actual diagnosis.
Clients with bipolar disorder tend to face 4 common “dialectical dilemmas”:
- Learning to both accept the disorder while also becoming willing to make the necessary changes to mitigate the disorder.
- Learning the middle path between overregulation vs underregulation of their symptoms.
- Finding the balance between completely denying the disorder vs allowing the disorder to completely define you.
- Finding the middle ground between adequately preparing for future manic or depressive episodes vs learning to go with the flow.