This free online course teaches you how to effectively manage and treat trauma like post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) using dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT). We begin with a brief history of DBT and establish its value before demonstrating how it works. We draw a distinction between cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and DBT, despite their similarities. The course then examines psychotherapy and shows you how DBT aims to heal and treat trauma by teaching patients these four skills: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.

We begin with mindfulness: the process of focusing attention on the present moment and situation. We explain how mindfulness can be harnessed to cope with negative situations and feelings and lay out three states of mind: ‘wise’, ‘reasonable’ and ‘emotional’. The course then moves on to distress tolerance and its role in treating trauma. We break down the idea of ‘radical acceptance’, which encourages people to accept things as they are and let go of feelings that cannot be reversed or are out of their control. We teach you how to employ the ‘IMPROVE’ skill to boost distress tolerance and remind patients of their own strength. The course lays out how to treat trauma using emotional regulation, which separates ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ feelings. We explore interpersonal effectiveness to help people improve their social interactions as a sense of community can aid the management of trauma.

Trauma represents an emotional response to awful events that are hard to simply move past, like car accidents, natural disasters or violent crime. Initial reactions to trauma may include confusion, sadness, anxiety, numbness, dissociation, rage and confusion. Trauma can also harm mental health and this course trains you to treat PTSD using the new and exciting methods of DBT. Sign up to learn how to help people heal mental scars and escape the prisons built by fear and grief in their minds.