When your emotions hit fast and hard, a drink or a pill can start to feel like the only way to get through the night. You might be reading this for yourself, or for a partner or adult child whose moods and substance use have you worried. Either way, what you’re dealing with is real, and looking for help makes sense. At ShoreBreak Recovery, we offer DBT in South Jersey as part of our outpatient addiction care in Manahawkin. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) gives you practical skills for the moments when anger, panic, or loneliness push you toward using. You don’t need to have it all figured out before you call, and family members are welcome to start the conversation.
Is DBT Right for You?
These signs point toward DBT for adults whose substance use is tied to strong emotions:
- Your mood can go from fine to furious or panicked in minutes, and it takes hours to come back down.
- You drink or use to quiet anxiety or loneliness.
- Arguments with the people closest to you keep ending in the same blowup.
- You act on impulse, like sending an angry text or walking out of work, and regret it the next day.
- You’ve done therapy before and understand your patterns, yet you still don’t know what to do when a craving or a bad mood hits.
- Anxiety, depression, or trauma symptoms show up alongside your substance use.
If a few of these sound familiar, bring them up during your assessment. A clinician asks about your history and goals, then recommends the level of care that fits your schedule and needs. None of these signs is a diagnosis on its own. They give you and your clinician a starting point.
What Are the Four Core Skills of DBT?
DBT teaches four skill sets, and each one targets a different point where a hard moment can turn into using. You learn them in our outpatient treatment programs, then try them out at work or at the dinner table between sessions. Most people pick up one set faster than the others. Your therapist helps you spend extra time on the skill you find hardest.
- Mindfulness: Noticing what you feel and think in the moment, without judging it. A few seconds of awareness gives you room to choose your next move.
- Distress tolerance: Getting through a crisis or a craving without making it worse. You learn ways to ride out an urge until it passes.
- Emotion regulation: Spotting what sets off strong emotions and lowering how often and how hard they hit.
- Interpersonal effectiveness: Asking for what you need and saying no while keeping your relationships and your self-respect intact.
We reinforce these skills in both individual and group sessions. Practicing a skill in more than one setting makes it easier to reach for when you’re stressed and short on time.
What Does DBT Treat, and How Well Does It Work?
Dr. Marsha Linehan, a psychologist, developed DBT for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD), especially those facing intense emotional swings, self-harm, and ongoing thoughts of suicide. Clinicians call this core problem emotional dysregulation, meaning trouble managing how intense your emotions get and how long they last. Researchers have since studied DBT for substance use disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, eating disorders, and bipolar disorder. DBT is a strong fit for co-occurring disorders, where substance use overlaps with a mental health condition.
Maybe you use drugs or alcohol to escape painful emotions. Conflict with the people you love might flare up every week, or impulses might win before you’ve had time to think. DBT works on these patterns head-on. You learn to sit with distress and calm down faster after a trigger. Those same skills carry into hard conversations with family.
A 2024 systematic review of 18 randomized controlled trials, available through the National Library of Medicine, looked at DBT for BPD. Most of the trials supported DBT’s effectiveness. Across the studies, DBT was linked to fewer hospital admissions, steadier moods, less impulsive behavior, and better follow-through with treatment. The review covered BPD specifically, and research on DBT for substance use is still growing.
How Do DBT Sessions Work at ShoreBreak?
DBT combines one-on-one therapy with group skills training. In individual sessions, you meet with a DBT therapist in South Jersey. Together, you work on the behavior patterns you want to change. Groups teach the four skill sets, and you practice them with peers working toward similar goals. In our IOP, a typical week includes three group sessions and one individual session. Our partial care groups usually hold eight people or fewer, so your therapist gets to know your history.
DBT balances acceptance with change. You learn to accept yourself as you are today while working to change the habits pulling you back toward using. Holding both at once eases shame, which makes it easier to stay in treatment after a rough week. Your therapist will acknowledge what’s hard and still ask you to try something new.
Know Your Patterns but Still Get Swept Away?
Insight isn’t always enough when anger, panic, or loneliness hit fast. DBT gives you concrete skills to get through those moments without using, practiced in group and one-on-one. Call to see if DBT fits your plan.
How Does DBT Help With Addiction?
Many people who struggle with substance use are also carrying intense emotional pain from trauma, grief, or a mental health condition. Our dialectical behavior therapy for addiction in NJ gives you something to do with the pain besides using. Say a phone call with your ex leaves you shaking late at night. You have a plan for the next hour, one you practiced in group. Later in the week, you go over how it went with your therapist.
Substance use also strains relationships. Trust wears thin, arguments get louder, and the people who could help start to pull away. DBT’s communication and boundary-setting skills give you a way to repair some of that damage. You practice asking for support without blaming anyone, and you learn to say no and still feel okay about it. Over time, the people around you get to see a steadier version of you.
Who Provides DBT in Our Outpatient Programs?
Our clinicians are trained in DBT, and you can read their full bios on our team page. Marianne Daleo, our primary therapist, is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) with more than 14 years in outpatient, residential, and community behavioral health. Her approach is trauma-informed and collaborative.
Dan Miranda, MS, directs our substance abuse counseling and has worked in the field since 2009. He holds Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LCADC) and Certified Clinical Supervisor (CCS) credentials. Many of our staff, including our recovery coaches, also bring their own recovery experience to this work.
We offer DBT in South Jersey through all four of our programs: Partial Care, our intensive outpatient program (IOP), Virtual IOP, and our Outpatient Program. Case managers help you use your skills outside sessions, from appointments to housing and job matters. We are accredited by the Joint Commission and certified by LegitScript. We work with many major insurance plans, including Aetna, Cigna, Horizon, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Our admissions team checks your benefits before your first session, so you know what your plan covers.
For co-occurring conditions, DBT often runs alongside CBT, motivational interviewing, and trauma-focused care. Each one targets a different piece, so your clinicians choose the mix based on what’s driving your use. Your clinicians review the mix with you as you progress. When your program ends, DBT skills become part of your aftercare plan.
