Dr. Mitchell Naficy
Board Certified Family Physician-Treating and working with Substance Abuse, Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation since 2011 -In private solo practice since 2003-Licensed in CA since 1991-Licensed in TX since 2025-Licensed in MT since 2025
Key Takeaways
- Dialectical behavior therapy teaches practical ways to manage strong emotions, stress, cravings, and relationship problems without automatically turning to alcohol or drugs.
- DBT focuses on mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness, giving clients skills they can practice during treatment and everyday life.
- San Diego Wellness Center combines structured addiction care with therapy, dual diagnosis treatment, medical detox, residential support, and aftercare planning based on each client’s needs.
Recovery involves more than stopping alcohol or drug use. Stress, anger, sadness, guilt, fear, or loneliness can become difficult to manage when substances are no longer being used to push those feelings away. Dialectical behavior therapy, commonly called DBT, teaches practical skills that can help people respond to strong emotions without immediately acting on them. These skills can support healthier coping, communication, and decision making throughout addiction treatment. At San Diego Wellness Center, DBT skills can be part of a larger treatment plan focused on substance use, mental health, and emotional wellness.
Addiction Treatment Statistics
Substance use disorders affect millions of people across the United States.
According to SAMHSA’s 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 44.6 million people age 12 or older had a substance use disorder during the previous year. SAMHSA also estimated that 47.2 million people needed substance use treatment in 2025 when people who received treatment without meeting past year SUD criteria were included. These numbers show how large the need for addiction treatment remains.
Mental health can also be part of substance use treatment. NIDA identifies behavioral treatment as an important part of care for many people with drug use disorders or mental illness. It also describes DBT as an approach used to reduce harmful behaviors that can include drug use.
Statistics cannot tell us which therapy is right for one person. They do show why access to behavioral health treatment remains important.
What Is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)?
Dialectical behavior therapy is a type of therapy that helps people manage strong emotions and make healthier choices. It was first created for borderline personality disorder but is now also used in other treatment settings, including addiction recovery.
The main idea of DBT is accepting what you feel while also choosing how to respond. For example, if someone feels angry after an argument, they can pause, calm down, and choose a healthier response instead of drinking or using drugs.
DBT can help clients manage stress, anxiety, sadness, anger, and other difficult emotions without turning to substances. The goal is to handle emotions in healthier ways rather than letting them control your actions.
How Does DBT Help With Emotional Regulation During Recovery?
Emotional regulation means recognizing your emotions and finding healthier ways to respond to them. During recovery, feelings like anger, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, or stress can sometimes trigger cravings.
DBT teaches clients to slow down before reacting. For example, someone who becomes angry after a stressful conversation may notice the emotion and craving, step away, and use a healthy coping skill instead of turning to alcohol or drugs.
With practice, these skills can make difficult emotions easier to manage. At San Diego Wellness Center, clients can work on emotional regulation alongside addiction and co-occurring mental health concerns while building coping skills they can use after treatment.
What Are the Four Main Skills Taught in DBT?
DBT is built around four main skill areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. These four areas are also highlighted in San Diego Wellness Center’s existing DBT material.
Four Core DBT Skills
| DBT Skill | How It Can Help During Recovery |
| Mindfulness | Helps you notice thoughts, emotions, and cravings without immediately reacting |
| Distress Tolerance | Helps you get through stressful moments without making the situation worse |
| Emotional Regulation | Helps you identify emotions and practice healthier responses |
| Interpersonal Effectiveness | Helps with communication, boundaries, and relationships |
How Can DBT Help You Manage Stress and Difficult Emotions?
Stress is still part of everyday life during recovery. Work, relationships, family responsibilities, and unexpected problems can all bring up difficult emotions. DBT helps clients recognize how stress may lead to cravings and find healthier ways to respond.
Skills such as mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, breathing exercises, and grounding techniques can help clients slow down before reacting. Instead of turning to alcohol or drugs during a stressful moment, they can practice healthier ways to cope. Over time, these skills can make stress and difficult emotions easier to manage.
How Does DBT Help With Cravings and Addiction Triggers?
Cravings are often connected to triggers such as stress, certain places, memories, relationship problems, loneliness, or difficult emotions. DBT can help clients recognize these triggers and slow down before acting on an urge.
Instead of immediately turning to alcohol or drugs, clients can use grounding skills, step away from the situation, contact someone supportive, or plan ahead for known triggers. DBT does not guarantee that someone will never return to substance use, but it can provide healthier ways to manage cravings and situations that may increase the risk of use.
Can DBT Help With Mental Health and Addiction at the Same Time?
Mental health and substance use can affect each other. Someone may use alcohol or drugs to cope with anxiety, depression, trauma, stress, or difficult emotions, but the relief is often temporary.
DBT can help some clients manage strong emotions, impulsive behaviors, and unhealthy coping patterns. San Diego Wellness Center provides dual diagnosis treatment that addresses addiction alongside co-occurring mental health disorders.
Treatment is based on each client’s needs. Some may focus on emotional regulation, while others may need more support for anxiety, depression, trauma, or other mental health concerns.
What Can You Expect From DBT During Addiction Treatment?
DBT during addiction treatment focuses on practicing healthier ways to handle emotions, stress, cravings, and triggers. Clients may work on mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, communication, and setting healthy boundaries.
At San Diego Wellness Center, clients can practice these skills while receiving structured residential treatment. Medical detox is also available when needed before residential care.
The goal is to help clients use DBT skills in everyday situations after treatment. San Diego Wellness Center provides aftercare planning and partners with local PHP and IOP facilities when continued support is appropriate.
Why Do People Choose San Diego Wellness Center for DBT and Addiction Treatment?
People choose San Diego Wellness Center because addiction can affect physical health, mental health, relationships, and everyday life. Our licensed and accredited San Diego County facility provides medical detox, residential treatment, and dual diagnosis care.
Dialectical behavior therapy can help clients manage emotions, stress, cravings, and triggers while building healthier communication skills. Treatment takes place in a comfortable setting with chef prepared meals, a swimming pool, gym memberships, entertainment areas, and guided hikes.
San Diego Wellness Center also provides aftercare planning and partners with local PHP and IOP facilities when continued care is appropriate. The goal is to help clients build practical skills they can use to support recovery after residential treatment.
Strengthen Emotional Regulation With San Diego Wellness Center
Strong emotions do not have to control your next decision. Dialectical behavior therapy can provide practical skills for handling stress, improving emotional regulation, responding to triggers, and communicating more effectively. Those skills can work alongside medical care, residential treatment, mental health support, healthier routines, and aftercare planning. Recovery takes practice, and having several ways to cope can make difficult situations easier to manage. San Diego Wellness Center provides medical detox, residential treatment, dual diagnosis care, and continued recovery planning in San Diego County. Contact San Diego Wellness Center today to speak with our team about treatment options.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is DBT and how is it different from CBT?
DBT developed from behavioral and cognitive approaches but places strong emphasis on balancing acceptance with change. CBT generally focuses heavily on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, while DBT also places structured attention on mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and relationship skills.
How does DBT help with emotional regulation?
DBT teaches clients to identify emotions, recognize triggers, slow down automatic reactions, and practice healthier responses. Emotional regulation does not mean avoiding feelings. It means becoming better able to handle them without immediately reacting in harmful ways.
Can DBT help prevent relapse?
DBT may help reduce factors that can contribute to returning to substance use by teaching coping skills for cravings, stress, strong emotions, and relationship conflict. It cannot guarantee that relapse will never happen, and it is generally used as one part of a larger addiction treatment plan.
Who may benefit from DBT during addiction recovery?
DBT may be helpful for clients who struggle with strong emotions, impulsive behaviors, stress, relationship conflict, or substance use connected to emotional triggers. Whether DBT is appropriate should be based on a clinical assessment and the person’s treatment needs.
Is DBT available at San Diego Wellness Center?
San Diego Wellness Center’s treatment materials identify DBT as part of its addiction treatment approach. DBT skills may be incorporated into treatment to support mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and healthier communication based on a client’s clinical needs.