Mindfulness
The foundational module underneath the other three: observing and describing your internal experience without immediately reacting to it. Every DBT skill assumes some baseline capacity to notice what's happening before acting on it.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy · Arlington, VA
Dialectical Behavior Therapy in Arlington, Virginia
Mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness skills for intense emotions, self-harm urges, borderline personality traits, and co-occurring substance use, through PHP, IOP, and outpatient programs for adults in Arlington, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia.
- Most insurance accepted
- Day & evening IOP tracks
- Telehealth for Virginia residents only
Medically reviewed by the VABH Medical Team
The four DBT modules
How DBT is structured
DBT combines a weekly skills group with individual therapy and specific tracking tools. Here's what each piece involves.
Distress tolerance
Skills for surviving a crisis without making it worse, such as TIPP techniques and radical acceptance, used in the moments when a situation can't be fixed right now and reacting impulsively would cause more harm.
Emotion regulation
Skills for understanding what an emotion is telling you, reducing vulnerability to intense mood swings, and changing an emotional response when it doesn't fit the facts of a situation.
Interpersonal effectiveness
Structured scripts for asking for what you need, saying no, and maintaining a relationship and your self-respect at the same time, especially useful for people whose relationships tend to swing between overinvolvement and rupture.
Weekly skills groups
DBT skills are taught in a structured group format, typically covering one module in depth before rotating to the next, with practice built into the same session.
Learn more about Weekly skills groupsDiary cards
A daily tracking tool for urges, emotions, and skill use, reviewed with your therapist each week. It turns vague reports of "a hard week" into specific data you can actually work with.
Chain analysis
A detailed, step-by-step breakdown of the exact sequence of events, thoughts, and feelings that led to a target behavior like self-harm or substance use, used to find the earliest point where a different choice was possible.
Who DBT fits
What DBT treats and what a full program includes
DBT was built for the hardest-to-treat presentations in outpatient mental health. Here's where it fits and what a real program looks like.
Borderline personality traits
DBT was originally developed for chronic emotional instability and was the first therapy shown to reduce self-harm in controlled research. It remains the standard of care for this presentation.
Self-harm urges
Chain analysis and distress tolerance skills target the specific sequence leading up to self-harm, replacing it with alternatives that address the same underlying urge without the same cost.
Intense or rapidly shifting emotions
For clients whose emotional intensity feels disproportionate to the situation, DBT builds a vocabulary and skill set for naming and managing that intensity before it drives behavior.
Learn more about Intense or rapidly shifting emotionsCo-occurring substance use
DBT has an adapted protocol specifically for substance use, applying the same distress tolerance and chain analysis tools to cravings and urges to use.
Learn more about Co-occurring substance useWhat a DBT-informed program includes
Weekly skills group, individual therapy that reinforces those skills, diary card review, and phone or messaging coaching for real-time skill use between sessions, all coordinated by one team.
DBT alongside medication
DBT addresses skills and behavior; medication addresses underlying mood or anxiety symptoms. Our medical staff may prescribe medication as part of a fully integrated DBT-informed plan.
Individual therapy within DBT
Your individual therapist reviews your diary card each week and works through chain analysis with you on the target behaviors that matter most in your treatment plan.
Learn more about Individual therapy within DBTLevels of care
DBT across our programs
DBT is delivered as a full program, not a single technique, with intensity scaled to your current level of risk and need.
- 015 days/week · ~6 hrs/day
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
Daily DBT skills groups across all four modules plus individual sessions and diary card review, for clients whose emotional intensity or self-harm risk needs the most structured support.
- 023–5 days/week · day or evening
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
DBT skills group combined with individual sessions three to five days a week, in day or evening tracks, so treatment fits around work or school.
- 03Weekly · ongoing
Outpatient DBT & medication management
Ongoing weekly DBT skills group and individual therapy for clients who've stabilized but continue building on emotion regulation and interpersonal skills.
- 04Virginia-statewide
Telehealth DBT
DBT skills groups and individual sessions delivered by secure video for Virginia residents, since our clinicians are licensed in Virginia. In-person DBT serves Virginia, Maryland, and DC.
Across the river from Maryland
Convenient for Maryland commuters
Our Arlington center is a short drive from Bethesda, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County. Maryland clients regularly attend in-person DBT skills groups here as part of PHP or IOP, and evening tracks keep treatment compatible with a DC workday. Telehealth sessions are available for Virginia residents.
Common questions
DBT questions, answered
What are the four modules of DBT?
Mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Mindfulness underlies the other three, and skills groups typically rotate through each module in a structured cycle.
Who is DBT actually for?
DBT was developed for chronic emotional instability and self-harm, and remains the standard treatment for borderline personality traits. It's also used for intense or rapidly shifting emotions, suicidal ideation without imminent risk, and co-occurring substance use.
What is a diary card and do I have to fill one out?
A diary card is a daily log of urges, emotions, and which skills you used, reviewed with your therapist each week. It's a core part of DBT because it replaces a vague sense of "a hard week" with specific, workable data.
What is chain analysis?
A structured, step-by-step review of exactly what led up to a target behavior, like self-harm or substance use, tracing the sequence of events, thoughts, and feelings to find the earliest point where a different response was possible.
Is DBT only for people with borderline personality disorder?
No. While DBT was developed for and remains the standard of care for borderline personality traits, its skills are widely used for intense emotions, self-harm urges, and co-occurring substance use even without that diagnosis.
What does a DBT-informed program actually include?
A weekly skills group covering all four modules, individual therapy that reinforces those skills and reviews your diary card, and coaching support for using skills in real time between sessions, all coordinated as one plan.
Is DBT available by telehealth?
Yes, for Virginia residents. Our clinicians are licensed in Virginia, so telehealth DBT skills groups and individual sessions are offered statewide. In-person DBT at our Arlington center is open to Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC residents.
In-person care at 5400 Shawnee Road, Arlington, VA for VA, MD, and DC residents. Telehealth for Virginia residents only.
If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or call 911.
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- Admissions — 24/7(571) 586-2883
- Location5400 Shawnee Road, Arlington, VA
Insurance accepted
Insurance coverage for Dialectical Behavior Therapy
DBT delivered through skills groups, individual therapy, PHP, and IOP is a covered behavioral health benefit under most commercial plans — Anthem, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Optum, Sentara Health Plans, UMR, and Johns Hopkins Health Plans. Send us your card and we'll confirm your benefits before you begin.
Don't see your plan? Call us — we also work with out-of-network benefits and self-pay.