The four skills modules
Learn and practice mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness—adapted to the situations you actually face.
DBT for adults in Atlanta
Individual sessions for emotions that arrive fast and ask a great deal.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy offers a structured, skills-based path through intense emotion, including the patterns often described as borderline personality disorder—one that takes your experience seriously while working actively toward change.
- Consultation
- The initial consultation is free and typically lasts 15 minutes. I will respond within 24 hours.
- Sessions
- In person in Atlanta, or telehealth for clients physically located in Georgia.
- Payment
- Private pay. Insurance is not accepted.
Alireza Ehteshami, Ph.D., Pre-Licensed Professional in Clinical Psychology, practicing under the supervision of Craig Kerley, Psy.D., Georgia license PSY002840.
Where therapy can begin
When emotions move faster than choices, effort alone is rarely the missing piece.
You may already know the pattern well: a surge of emotion, a reaction that follows almost automatically—an outburst, a relationship ended or held onto too tightly, an urge to hurt yourself—and an aftermath of repair, regret, or exhaustion. Resolving to respond differently next time keeps not being enough, however sincerely you mean it.
DBT was developed for precisely this gap between intention and action, and it remains the most extensively studied treatment for borderline personality disorder. Individual DBT combines genuine validation of what you are carrying with systematic skills training and a close, non-judgmental look at how difficult moments actually unfold.
Your clinician
I earned my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Emory University and completed an APA-accredited predoctoral internship through Emory University School of Medicine’s Child, Adolescent & Young Adult Psychiatry program.
I am completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Perimeter Mood & Anxiety Program. I draw from evidence-based treatments including CBT, ACT, and DBT, selecting methods according to each person’s needs rather than applying a single formula.
Supervision
I am a Pre-Licensed Professional in Clinical Psychology. I provide clinical services under the supervision of Craig Kerley, Psy.D., a licensed psychologist in Georgia, license number PSY002840.
What individual DBT involves
Sessions are structured without being mechanical. The full DBT skills curriculum is taught and practiced within individual therapy, always in the service of the life you are trying to build.
Chain analysis
Carefully reconstruct difficult moments—vulnerability, trigger, interpretation, urge, action, and aftermath—to find where a different response becomes possible.
Between-session practice
Track emotions, urges, and skills through the week with diary cards, so sessions build on what actually happened rather than what is easiest to recall.
How I work
The dialectic at the center: your responses make sense, and they can change.
I provide DBT in an individual format: weekly one-on-one sessions that integrate skills training, diary cards, and chain analysis within a consistent therapeutic relationship. This offers the working framework of DBT to adults who want structured, evidence-based care without joining a separate skills group.
Validation before problem-solving
We begin from the premise that your emotions and coping have a logic shaped by biology and history. Change built on self-contempt rarely lasts.
Skills chosen for your life
Rather than moving through a workbook page by page, we prioritize the skills that meet the situations, relationships, and goals actually in front of you.
Structure that serves the work
Diary cards, session agendas, and clear treatment targets keep the therapy honest and focused—used as tools, not rituals.
Common questions
If your question is not covered here, you are welcome to bring it to our initial conversation.
How is individual DBT different from a comprehensive DBT program?
A comprehensive DBT program typically includes individual therapy, a separate weekly skills group, between-session phone coaching, and a therapist consultation team. What I offer is individual DBT: the skills curriculum and core DBT structure delivered within one-on-one sessions. For many adults this format is a strong fit. Because my practice is based at the Perimeter Mood & Anxiety Program, comprehensive DBT is also available when the consultation suggests it would serve you better—all four modes, in the same setting, without a referral elsewhere.
Who is individual DBT a good fit for?
Adults navigating intense or fast-moving emotions, impulsive reactions they later regret, self-harm urges, harsh self-criticism, exhausting relationship cycles, or difficulty tolerating distress—including patterns associated with borderline and other personality disorders. You do not need a particular diagnosis to benefit; DBT skills are useful well beyond the conditions the treatment was first designed for.
I have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Is DBT right for me?
DBT was originally developed for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and recurrent self-harm, and it remains among the best-supported treatments for it. A diagnosis is not where we start, though; we start with the specific patterns making life hard and what you want to be different. Some people with BPD do well in individual DBT. When the consultation suggests that comprehensive DBT would serve you better, it is available at the Perimeter Mood & Anxiety Program, where my practice is based—in the same setting, without a referral elsewhere.
What if I am having thoughts of self-harm or suicide?
Self-harm urges are among the things DBT addresses most directly, and they are a reason to reach out rather than a reason to wait. The consultation form and voicemail are not monitored for emergencies, however. If you are in immediate danger or thinking about ending your life, call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911.
What does a DBT session look like?
We typically review the diary card, set an agenda together, look closely at a significant moment from the week, and practice or refine a skill that fits it—ending with a concrete plan for the week ahead. Structure is consistent, but there is always room for what feels most alive or urgent that day.
Begin with a brief conversation
The initial consultation is free and typically lasts 15 minutes. I will respond within 24 hours. This form does not ask for clinical or medical information.
- Practice
- Perimeter Mood & Anxiety Program
- Telehealth
- For clients physically located in Georgia
You are welcome to share your name, preferred contact method, and general availability. To support HIPAA privacy safeguards, please do not include sensitive clinical or medical information in this form.
This form is not monitored for emergencies. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. In the United States, call or text 988.