Traditional DBT, DBT-S, helps stop dramatic, erratic, or out-of-control behaviors through skills primarily focused on emotion regulation (i.e. learning to change an emotion when it’s too intense or doesn’t fit the facts of the situation). This means the individual needs help controlling their reactions in public and in private, as they tend to be expressing themselves to everyone all the time.

​

RO DBT is nearly the opposite. RO DBT teaches people to learn to relax their bodies and turn off “threat system” physiology, in order to express one’s self better, through communication and facial and body signaling to decrease emotional loneliness . RO DBT is not about regulating emotions, rather it’s about learning to use them to help express oneself according to one’s value goals. The individual the may been feeling a lot on the inside, but isn't necessarily showing it on the outside. Rarely if ever would they show big reactions in public.