DBT Center of NJ

01/07/2026

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It's 1961.
A 17-year-old girl is locked in a psychiatric ward.
The doctors don't expect her to survive.
She would go on to revolutionize
how we treat the "untreatable."

She spent 26 months there.
Seclusion rooms. Electroshock.
Burning herself. Banging her head against walls.

But Marsha Linehan made herself a vow:

She would get out of hell.
And she would find a way
to help others escape it too.

Decades later, she did exactly that.

She created Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
A treatment that would save countless lives.

Here's what Marsha Linehan taught us
that we desperately need today:

1/ Acceptance and Change Aren't Opposites
↳ Traditional therapy pushed only for change
↳ Linehan realized this felt invalidating
to people in extreme pain
↳ The breakthrough: Hold both.
Radical acceptance AND commitment to change.

2/ Validation Is a Clinical Intervention
↳ Before you can help someone change,
they need to feel understood
↳ Validation isn't agreeing.
It's acknowledging their pain makes sense.
↳ People can't hear solutions
until they feel heard.

3/ Skills Can Be Taught
↳ Emotional regulation isn't a personality trait.
It's a skill set.
↳ Distress tolerance can be learned.
Interpersonal effectiveness can be practiced.
↳ What was once called "untreatable"
became teachable.

4/ Meet People in Their Crises
↳ DBT includes phone coaching between sessions
↳ Skills aren't useful if they're only practiced
in the therapy room
↳ Real change happens in real moments.

5/ Your Suffering Can Become Your Purpose
↳ Linehan didn't hide from her past. She used it.
↳ In 2011, she publicly revealed
her own hospitalization
↳ Lived experience isn't a liability.
It's credibility.

Linehan gave us one phrase
that captures her life's work:

"The goal is to build a life worth living."

Not symptom-free. Not cured. Worth living.

She understood that healing isn't about erasing pain.
It's about creating meaning alongside it.

60+ years after that locked ward,
we are helping people build lives worth living

Words by Dr. Eric Arzubi MD. Psychiatrist.

01/05/2026

Today can feel like the most depressing day of the year, after time off, family, celebrations, and maybe a little too much sugar or alcohol. Waking up to a long work week, cold temperatures, and months of limited sunlight can feel heavy.

On days like this, a sunlight therapy lamp can make a real difference and help keep the winter blues away ☀️

Sun lamp (light therapy) benefits:
• Improves mood / SAD helps seasonal depression
• Regulates circadian rhythm, better sleep wake timing
• Improves sleep quality especially morning use
• Increases focus & energy and reduces daytime fatigue
• Helps winter blues
• Support vitamin D related symptoms

12/24/2025

Why DBT Is the Real Deal
(Not Just a Buzzword)

DBT isn’t trendy, it’s one of the most researched and proven therapies out there. Decades of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) show it works where other treatments often fail.

✅ Reduces self-harm & suicidal behavior, repeatedly confirmed across 30+ RCTs.
✅ Improves emotion regulation, measurable drops in anger, impulsivity, and mood swings.
✅ Decreases hospitalizations & ER visits, people use skills instead of crisis.
✅ Treats more than borderline personality disorder, proven effective for depression, anxiety, PTSD, eating disorders, and substance use.
✅ Improves relationships & overall functioning, clients build a life that feels worth living.
✅ Strong results across settings, outpatient, inpatient, teens, adults, veterans, even forensic.
✅ Replicated worldwide, across cultures, healthcare systems, and therapist experience levels.

DBT works because it blends acceptance & change, mindfulness & action, compassion & accountability.

That balance isn’t just therapy, it’s transformation backed by data.

12/23/2025

Wise Mind RX: Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Sleep

If your brain is tired but your body won’t stand down, this is for you.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is well-researched for reducing sleep latency, lowering cortisol, and calming the nervous system. It works by sending a clear signal to the brain: we’re safe enough to power down.

How to do it (keep it simple):
• Inhale gently
• Lightly tense one muscle group and 5-6 seconds
• Exhale and fully release for 10–15 seconds
• Notice the drop (that’s the medicine)

Order (head-to-toe or toe-to-head):
• Feet
• Calves
• Thighs
• Glutes
• Belly
• Hands
• Forearms
• Upper arms
• Shoulders
(easy — no strain)
• Jaw (gentle clench)
• Eyes/forehead (tiny squeeze)

Key DBT notes:
• Apply mild tension
• Short holds work better for sleep
• Pair with a calming message with your exhale "RELAX"

Why it helps sleep:
PMR increases parasympathetic tone, reduces somatic anxiety, and improves sleep onset and quality in multiple clinical studies, especially when done nightly.

Prescription:
5–10 minutes in bed.
Dark, cool and quite room.
Phone down, out of reach
Repeat nightly.

Wise mind isn’t forcing sleep.
It’s creating the conditions where sleep can happen.

12/18/2025

Wise Mind RX: Sunlight
A Pillar of Health

Sunlight isn’t just nice to have.
It’s a biological requirement for mood, sleep, hormones, and immune regulation.

Why it matters (Wise Mind facts):
• Regulates circadian rhythm
• Supports serotonin, vitamin D3 and melatonin balance
• Improves energy, focus, and mood
• Signals safety to the nervous system

Winter reality (Radical Acceptance): We don’t get enough natural light. So we support biology intentionally.

Bottom Line:
Light is a pillar of health.
Daily light exposure in
Natural outdoor light is best; when that’s limited, a UV-free light box fills the gap.

Sunlight (or light therapy) is a Wise Mind non-negotiable—especially in winter.

It’s a daily habit, not a quick fix, do the behavior first, and the nervous system follows.

12/16/2025

Wise Mind Rx:
Sleeping pills don’t cure insomnia, at best they mostly mask it.
They can be addictive, and stopping them often causes rebound insomnia that’s worse than before.

The real issue isn’t the pill,
it’s behavior and habits.

Late screens, irregular schedules, stress, caffeine, and avoidance of routines all train your brain to stay awake.

Real sleep comes from skills and structure: consistent bedtime, limiting screens, calming routines, and coping with nighttime worry.

Pills can calm the alarm temporarily, but only behavior rewires sleep.

Bottom Line:
Meds = short-term bridge, not treatment

Sleep skillfully.

12/15/2025

Wise Mind Rx:
Taking more than one medication at a time, polypharmacy, can sometimes help, and it also increases risks.
• More meds = higher chance of side effects, health problems, metabolic changes, and weight gain.
• Interactions between drugs can amplify drowsiness, cognitive slowing, or emotional blunting.
• The more meds you take, the harder it is to know which one is actually helping.

Polypharmacy should be carefully managed by a knowledgeable professional who monitors labs, side effects, and your overall well-being.

Skills, routines, and lifestyle continue to be crucial for mood, focus, and overall brain health.

Less can be more.
Monitor carefully.
Build skills alongside meds.

12/10/2025

"Showing Up for the Occasion” Why More Mental Health Services do not always equal Better Mental Health.

There’s a well-identifief pattern: when someone is hospitalized, their symptoms often intensify once they’re inside. Not because they’re pretending, but because people naturally adapt to the role the environment cues. If the setting says “This is for mental patients,” the mind and body show up for that occasion.

Now look at our culture.

We have more therapists, programs, hotlines, apps, and “get help” messaging than ever and yet mental health keeps declining.

When the mindset becomes:
“Everyone can benefit from therapy" We unintentionally teach the brain to search for dysfunction.

Therapy is valuable, but over-pathologizing normal struggle weakens coping. If every discomfort is a diagnosis, people learn: "I can’t handle life without professional help.”

More services aren’t always the answer. Sometimes the environment shapes the very symptoms we’re trying to treat.

12/10/2025

Wise Mind Rx:
Mood stabilizers can help manage extreme mood swings, and they are powerful medications with real, sometimes irreversible risks.

Some side effects:
kidney, thyroid, liver, or neurological issues, require careful monitoring and lab checks.
How you start and stop matters:
• Titrate up slowly to find the lowest effective dose.
• Titrate down slowly to avoid withdrawal effects, rebound mood shifts, or emerging side effects.

Work with a clinician who truly understands your history, respects side effects, and is creative in helping you navigate emotional shifts during dosing changes.

Medication can help, but skills, routines, and structure remain essential to stabilize mood safely.

Professional oversight + skillful daily habits = safer, more effective mood management.

12/08/2025

Wise Mind Rx:
Some medications can increase the risk of su***de.
• Antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts.
• Benzodiazepines can lower inhibition and increase impulsivity, making acting on thoughts more likely.
• Large studies show higher odds of su***de or attempts linked to these medications, so close monitoring is essential.

Medication may help,
and skills, safety planning, and connection are what keeps you safe.

DBT teaches: notice urges, ride them out with skill, and reach out for support when needed, don’t act alone.

Skills save lives.
Connection saves lives. Medication needs careful WiseMind monitoring.

12/05/2025

Wise Mind Rx: The ACC
Your Brain’s “Do Hard Things” Muscle

Your Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) is the tiny strip of brain that decides: "Avoid the discomfort… or lean in and grow?”

It’s the Wise Mind switchboard, the place where your brain notices conflict, pumps the brakes, and helps you make the choice you meant to make.

And here’s the magic:

Every time you do something hard ON PURPOSE, especially when you don’t want to, your ACC gets stronger. Think of it as neuro reps.

DBT Reps:
• Mindfulness
Builds the ACC’s ability to notice the moment before the impulse hits.
• Distress Tolerance
Strengthens the ACC’s capacity to stay with discomfort without shutting down or acting out.
• Opposite Action
Direct ACC workout. You override emotion and choose action based on values.
• Wise Mind
The ACC is literally the bridge between Emotion Mind and Reasonable Mind.

Bottom line:
If you want a stronger Wise Mind, you have to do things your brain doesn’t want to do. One uncomfortable choice at a time.

Grow the ACC → Grow the pause → Grow the life you want.

12/03/2025

Wise Mind Rx
Stimulants can feel like they sharpen your mind,
but let's zoom in: 👁️

Real costs: insomnia, irritability, appetite loss, rebound crashes, and higher risk of psychosis and addiction.

The brain responds to chemistry and does not distinguish between "prescribed" or "street" amphetamines that drive the same addiction loop.

The trap: pills can replace the work of building attentional stamina.

Borrowed focus: It’s rented, not earned, and temporary, the payback shows up as irritability, crashes, or depending on the pill just to start.

The danger: relying on a pill instead of building skills, true focus, calm, and executive‑function come from training your brain and body, not masking the need for training.

Stimulants can reinforce avoidance of the hard work, structure, routines, mindfulness, habits that actually build focus and control.

DBT angle: Focus requires mindfulness reps, noticing your mind wander, bringing it back, again and again. Building the true muscle to focus.

Distress tolerance: Learning to tolerate urges and distractions and stay with the discomfort of boredom, frustration, and mental effort instead of escaping it.

Skills build the brain.
Shortcuts don’t.