Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was developed by Marsha Linehan in the late 1980’s and was originally developed for chronically suicidal individuals diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). However, there is strong evidence to support the effectiveness of DBT with various presenting issues.
DBT is an evidence based therapy with a few underlying assumptions:
- you struggle with regulating your emotions
- while you may not have caused all of the problems you experience, it is up to you to solve them
- the therapist helps the client to move towards the goals that they define
The goal of DBT is to help clients “build a life worth living” [M. Linehan] and help individuals to change patterns associated with life problems. There are 4 main modes of standard DBT treatment:
Here are the 4 main skills taught in DBT. These skills help clients learn how to enhance their lives and find other ways of coping with situations or problems:
Look out for future posts with more details about each of the 4 main skills in DBT!
To close, I encourage you to read Dr. Linehan’s memoir to learn more about her experiences and how she developed DBT
Resources: Behavioral Tech
Mindful Quality of Life 
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