Your emotions feel like a runaway train. One moment you’re fine, the next you’re overwhelmed by rage, despair, or panic so intense it feels like you might die. People call you “too sensitive,” “dramatic,” or “unstable,” but what they don’t understand is that your emotional intensity isn’t a choice—it’s how your brain is wired.
This isn’t about becoming emotionally numb or “fixing” your sensitivity. It’s about learning skills that let you experience your full emotional range without being destroyed by it.
At Ontario Therapy, located at 171 Main Street South in downtown Newmarket, we specialize in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)—a powerful approach specifically designed for people who experience emotions more intensely than others. DBT doesn’t try to make you feel less—it teaches you to feel deeply while staying in control of your actions.
She's the mother of a 16-year-old in Bradford who's been struggling with self-harm, eating disorders, and explosive emotions. The family has tried traditional therapy, medications, and even residential treatment, but nothing seems to help her daughter regulate her emotions. The whole family feels like they're walking on eggshells, and Lisa wonders if they're enabling or helping.
They're 22 and feel like they don't have a stable sense of who they are. Their mood determines their entire identity—when happy, they feel capable and lovable; when depressed, they feel worthless and hopeless. They've experimented with different friend groups, styles, values, and goals, but nothing feels authentic or lasting. They wonder if they have a "real self" underneath all the emotional chaos.
At 35, she desperately wants stable relationships but finds herself pushing people away when they get too close, then panicking when they actually leave. She oscillates between idealizing new friends and partners, then devaluing them when they inevitably disappoint her. She's been told she has "trust issues," but what she really has is a nervous system that interprets normal relationship ups and downs as life-or-death emergencies.
He's a 28-year-old accountant in King City who appears successful on the outside, but inside he's drowning. When his boss gives feedback, he either explodes in anger or shuts down completely. He's been through three jobs in two years because his emotional reactions are "unprofessional." His relationships end when partners get tired of walking on eggshells around his mood swings. He's starting to believe he's just fundamentally flawed.
She's 19 and living in Aurora, but every day feels like an emotional emergency. A friend doesn't text back and she spirals into abandonment panic. Her boyfriend mentions being tired and she's convinced he's going to leave her. She's cut herself to cope with the intensity, which terrifies her parents and makes her feel even more ashamed. She googles "emotional regulation help" at 3 AM, wondering if she'll ever feel normal.
Start with a comprehensive 90-minute assessment where we evaluate whether DBT is right for you and create a personalized treatment plan.
If you’re having thoughts of self-harm or suicide:
Most people experience emotions like gentle waves—they rise, peak, and naturally recede. But for some people, emotions feel more like tsunamis—overwhelming, unpredictable, and devastating in their intensity.
What Emotional Dysregulation Looks Like:
Emotional Intensity: Your emotions are turned up to volume 11 when others experience them at volume 5. Joy feels euphoric, sadness feels devastating, anger feels explosive, and fear feels life-threatening.
Emotional Reactivity: You go from 0 to 100 instantly. Small triggers create big reactions. A minor criticism feels like a personal attack, a cancelled plan feels like abandonment, and disappointment feels like the end of the world.
Slow Return to Baseline: While others bounce back from emotions quickly, yours linger for hours or days. A fight with a friend ruins your entire week. A rejection at work affects your self-worth for months.
Emotion-Driven Behaviors: When emotions spike, you act impulsively to escape the intensity. This might include self-harm, substance use, reckless driving, sexual acting out, spending sprees, or explosive outbursts you later regret.
Emotional Vulnerability: Stress, lack of sleep, hunger, or hormonal changes make your emotional thermostat even more sensitive. What you could handle yesterday becomes overwhelming today.
Identity Disturbance: Your sense of self changes with your emotions. You’re not sure who you “really” are because it depends on how you’re feeling in the moment.
Most therapy approaches assume that people have basic emotional regulation skills. They focus on insight, processing past experiences, or changing thought patterns. But for emotionally intense people, these approaches often fall short because they don’t address the fundamental skill deficit: how to manage overwhelming emotions in real-time.
Where Traditional Therapy Struggles:
Talking About Emotions vs. Managing Them: Traditional therapy involves discussing feelings, but when your emotions are at level 9 intensity, talking about them can actually make them worse rather than better.
Insight Doesn’t Equal Control: Understanding why you feel a certain way doesn’t automatically give you the ability to regulate those feelings. You might have perfect insight into your abandonment fears but still panic when someone doesn’t text back.
One-Size-Fits-All Coping Skills: Generic relaxation techniques or “just breathe” advice doesn’t work when your nervous system is in full crisis mode. You need specific, concrete tools designed for high-intensity emotions.
Pathologizing Emotional Intensity: Many approaches treat emotional sensitivity as something to be reduced or eliminated, rather than as a trait that can be channeled into strength when properly managed.
Crisis Reactivity: Traditional weekly therapy doesn’t help when you’re in emotional crisis at 2 AM on a Tuesday. You need skills that work in the moment, when you need them most.
This is where DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) revolutionizes treatment—it’s specifically designed for people whose emotions feel unmanageable.
DBT was originally developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan (who herself struggled with intense emotions) specifically for people who experience emotions more intensely than the average person. It’s the most researched and effective treatment for emotional dysregulation.
DBT’s Revolutionary Approach:
Skills-Based Learning: Instead of just talking about problems, DBT teaches you concrete, practical skills you can use immediately when emotions spike.
Emotion Regulation Focus: DBT assumes your emotions are valid and important—it just teaches you how to experience them without being destroyed by them.
Crisis Survival Tools: DBT provides specific techniques for surviving emotional crises without making them worse through destructive behaviors.
Mindfulness Integration: DBT teaches you to observe your emotions rather than being consumed by them, creating space between you and your feelings.
Interpersonal Effectiveness: DBT helps you navigate relationships while staying true to yourself and managing the intense emotions that relationships often trigger.
Distress Tolerance: Instead of trying to eliminate distress, DBT teaches you to tolerate difficult emotions without acting impulsively to escape them.
Mindfulness in DBT isn’t about meditation or spiritual practice—it’s about learning to observe your emotions rather than being hijacked by them.
Core Mindfulness Skills:
What This Looks Like in Practice: Instead of “I’m so angry I could scream and this is terrible and I can’t handle it,” you learn to think: “I’m noticing anger in my body. My jaw is tight, my heart is racing, and I have the urge to yell. This feeling is temporary and I can ride it out.”
When emotions reach crisis levels, your goal isn’t to feel better immediately—it’s to get through the crisis without doing something that will create more problems later.
Crisis Survival Skills:
Radical Acceptance Skills:
What This Prevents: Self-harm, substance use, explosive outbursts, reckless driving, impulsive purchases, sending angry texts, quitting jobs in anger, ending relationships during emotional storms.
This module teaches you the mechanics of emotions—how they work, why you have them, and how to influence them.
Emotion Regulation Skills:
Building Positive Emotions:
What This Creates: Emotional predictability, faster recovery from upsets, ability to make decisions based on values rather than momentary feelings, improved relationships, increased self-respect.
Relationships are often the biggest trigger for intense emotions. This module teaches you how to navigate relationships effectively while managing your emotional responses.
Relationship Skills:
Conflict Navigation:
What This Improves: Reduced relationship drama, clearer communication, stronger friendships, healthier romantic relationships, better family dynamics, improved work relationships.
I didn’t choose to specialize in DBT by accident—I sought out this training because I witnessed too many emotionally intense people being misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and inadequately treated by traditional approaches.
Advanced DBT Training:
Real-World DBT Experience:
DBT Professional Memberships:
I understand emotional intensity not just professionally, but personally. I know what it’s like to feel emotions so intensely they seem to take over your entire being. This lived experience, combined with rigorous DBT training, allows me to teach these skills with both expertise and genuine empathy.
171 Main Street South provides the perfect environment for learning DBT skills—accessible, comfortable, and right in the heart of Newmarket’s vibrant downtown core.
Why Our Location Supports DBT Learning:
When emotions hit crisis level (8/10 or higher), this technique can bring you down to manageable levels within 5-10 minutes.
TIPP works by rapidly changing your body chemistry to interrupt the emotional crisis state. It’s designed for emergencies when you need immediate relief and other skills aren’t accessible.
T – Temperature Change:
I – Intense Exercise:
P – Paced Breathing:
P – Paired Muscle Relaxation:
Why TIPP works: These techniques rapidly activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which calms emotional intensity by changing your body chemistry. They work faster than breathing or mindfulness alone when you’re in crisis.
When to use TIPP: When emotions reach 8/10 or higher, when you have urges to self-harm, when you feel out of control, before important conversations during emotional spikes, or anytime you need rapid emotional regulation.
After using TIPP: Once your emotional intensity drops to 6/10 or below, you can use other DBT skills like mindfulness or distress tolerance more effectively.
DBT is fundamentally different from traditional talk therapy. Instead of focusing on insight or processing past experiences, DBT teaches concrete skills you can use immediately when emotions spike. Many people who haven’t responded to other therapies find DBT effective because it addresses the skill deficit rather than just the emotional content.
DBT doesn’t try to eliminate your emotions or change your sensitive nature. Instead, it teaches you to experience your full emotional range while staying in control of your actions. Many people find they actually feel emotions more fully once they’re not afraid of being overwhelmed by them.
DBT was specifically designed for people who feel “too emotional” for traditional therapy. The skills are taught gradually, with lots of practice and support. There’s no such thing as being too emotional for DBT—emotional intensity is exactly why DBT was created.
While DBT is often longer-term than some therapies, many people notice improvements in emotional control within the first few months. The skills you learn become part of your toolkit for life, so the investment pays dividends for years to come.
Family education is often part of DBT treatment. We can help your loved ones understand emotional dysregulation and how to support your skill development rather than inadvertently undermining it.
DBT is effective for many conditions that involve emotional dysregulation, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use, and PTSD. DBT skills enhance other treatments rather than competing with them.
Some people benefit from medication to help with sleep, anxiety, or depression while learning DBT skills. DBT can be done with or without medication, and many people find they need less medication as their emotional regulation improves.
Needing help with emotional regulation is incredibly common and nothing to be ashamed of. Some people are born with more sensitive nervous systems, just like some people are born with allergies or other differences. DBT is simply learning skills to work with your natural temperament.
DBT includes specific crisis survival skills and protocols for between-session support. We’ll establish clear plans for managing emotional emergencies, and you’ll have concrete skills to use during crisis moments.
If you experience emotions more intensely than others, struggle with impulsive behaviors when upset, have difficulty maintaining relationships due to emotional reactivity, or feel like your emotions control your life rather than the other way around, DBT is likely to be helpful.
Full 24-week DBT skills group covering all four modules with other individuals learning emotional regulation.
Group Features:
Intensive DBT combining individual therapy with between-session skills coaching for rapid skill acquisition.
Program Components:
Specialized DBT for teenagers (ages 14-18) with emotional intensity, self-harm, or relationship difficulties.
Teen-Specific Features:
Using DBT principles to improve family dynamics and romantic relationships affected by emotional intensity.
Relationship DBT Services:
For individuals who’ve completed basic DBT and want ongoing support and advanced skill development.
Advanced Group Features:
Ontario Therapy is more than a collective; it’s a community where healing begins with connection. From every corner of Ontario, we’re here to support your journey to wellness.
DBT Investment Perspective: Learning DBT skills is an investment that pays dividends for life. Most clients find that mastering emotional regulation:
Traditional therapy often focuses on insight and processing past experiences, while DBT teaches concrete skills for managing intense emotions in real-time. DBT assumes you need to learn emotion regulation skills before you can effectively process underlying issues.
Absolutely. While DBT was originally developed for BPD, it’s now used effectively for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use, ADHD, and any condition involving emotional dysregulation.
Most people notice some improvement within 2-3 months, with significant changes typically occurring within 6-12 months. However, DBT skills continue to deepen with practice over years.
While DBT skills groups are highly beneficial, individual DBT can be effective on its own. Groups provide peer support and additional practice opportunities, but they’re not mandatory.
We can start with individual DBT to build your skills and confidence before joining a group, or continue with individual work if group participation remains too challenging.
Yes, DBT was specifically developed to help people who engage in self-destructive behaviors. It provides alternative coping strategies and addresses the emotional intensity that often drives these behaviors.
DBT honors your sensitivity as a trait while teaching you to manage its intensity. Many people find they’re able to be even more authentically themselves once they’re not controlled by emotional overwhelm.
DBT includes mindfulness but goes far beyond it. DBT mindfulness is specifically adapted for people with intense emotions and includes concrete skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
Yes, family DBT education is often helpful. When family members understand emotional dysregulation and learn some DBT skills themselves, it improves the entire family system.
We offer sliding scale fees, payment plans, and can help you prioritize which components of DBT would be most beneficial within your budget. Many extended health plans cover DBT as psychotherapy.
Southlake Regional Health Centre – crisis support and psychiatric coordination
York Region District School Board – school-based emotional support
Local family physicians – medication coordination when appropriate
Community mental health services – integrated care planning
Right now, your emotions might feel like a tornado that destroys everything in its path. You might believe that you’re just “too much” for other people, that you’ll never have stable relationships, or that you’re destined to live at the mercy of your emotional storms.
But what if that’s not true? What if your emotional intensity is actually a superpower that just needs the right training? What if the same sensitivity that causes you pain also gives you incredible empathy, creativity, and capacity for deep connection?
At Ontario Therapy in Newmarket, we’ve watched hundreds of emotionally intense people transform their relationship with their feelings. Not by becoming emotionally numb, but by learning to ride the waves instead of being crashed by them.
Your emotional intensity means you feel life more deeply than others. This isn’t a flaw—it’s a gift that comes with great responsibility. DBT teaches you how to unwrap that gift safely.
The teenager who was cutting to cope with overwhelming emotions and now uses her sensitivity to help other teens through peer counseling. The man whose anger cost him three jobs who now channels that passion into advocacy work he loves. The woman whose relationship fears kept her isolated who now has the marriage she always dreamed of.
Their emotions didn’t disappear—they learned to work with them instead of against them. They discovered that the very intensity that once felt like a curse could become their greatest strength.
DBT isn’t about changing who you are—it’s about becoming who you’re meant to be when you’re not controlled by emotional chaos. It’s about keeping your sensitive heart while developing an emotionally intelligent mind.
Your emotions have been the weather, and you’ve been at their mercy. DBT teaches you to become the meteorologist—still experiencing all the storms and sunshine, but understanding the patterns and knowing how to prepare.
The comfortable chair in our Main Street office is ready for you. The secure virtual therapy space is available when you need it. And most importantly, someone who understands both the science of emotional regulation and the lived experience of emotional intensity is here to teach you skills that will serve you for the rest of your life.
contact
Take the first step today:
Ontario Therapy – Newmarket
171 Main Street South
Newmarket, ON L3Y 4Z1
Providing expert DBT therapy to Newmarket, Aurora, King City, Bradford, Stouffville, and communities throughout Ontario. Sliding scale fees, crisis support, and specialized emotional regulation training that honors your sensitivity while building your strength.
DBT Therapy Hours:
24/7 DBT crisis skills support available via text for enrolled clients
Take the first step today:
Ontario Therapy – Newmarket
171 Main Street South
Newmarket, ON L3Y 4Z1
Phone: (647) 855-0530
Email: info@ontariotherapy.org
Online Booking:https://ontariotherapy.janeapp.com/
Providing expert DBT therapy to Newmarket, Aurora, King City, Bradford, Stouffville, and communities throughout Ontario. Sliding scale fees, crisis support, and specialized emotional regulation training that honors your sensitivity while building your strength.
DBT Therapy Hours:
24/7 DBT crisis skills support available via text for enrolled clients
