Dialectical Behaviour Therapy – agcounsellingandconsulting.com

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy:

DBT was developed the term coined by world renowned clinician and researcher, Marsha Linehan. Linehan developed this modality over a 19 year period, in response to her desire to provide ethical and results oriented treatment to adults with suicidal ideation and symptoms of borderline personality disorder, as well as treatment resistant depression, substance use and eating disorders (Linehan, 2015).

DBT Incorporates Four Main Components or Modules:

1) Mindfulness Skills (the ability to actively be present for or feel one’s own emotions, and to live in the moment with effectiveness),

2) Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills (communication strategies, useful for building relationships, understanding and negotiating boundaries, and better understanding self and others ),

3) Emotional Regulation Skills (building capacity to manage a range of emotions, including anger and anxious feelings, through identifying, naming and accepting feelings, and the emotional self), and

4) Distress Tolerance (the ability to work through, accept and negotiate intense feelings, and a critical element in reducing suffering).

We know that these four areas of human functioning are a challenge for many, and can be particularly difficult for individuals who have experienced attachment disruption in their families/relationships, or traumatic experiences through their personal or professional lives. DBT seeks to teach or re-teach these skills through individual and group programming.