Dialectical Behavior Therapy Strengths

DBT is designed to treat clients at all levels of severity and complexity of disorders. A growing body of empirical studies has examined DBT. DBT has been the subject of the most study and is the most widely used (Carson-Wong, Rizvi, & Steffel, 2013).

These can typically last from one year to a year and half that includes individual or group therapy. It mainly concentrates on the maladaptive thoughts. Behavioral techniques are incorporated into therapy, such as homework assignments and role playing. Sabine Keller et al mentions that DBT has five components that are essential for it to be effective: individual therapy, skills training group therapy, therapists’ consultation, phone consultation between each session, and the structure of the client’s environment (Keller, et al., 2017). DBT is a complicated therapeutic treatment since it combines four modes (individual therapy, group skills training, constant phone support and consultation meetings) as well as four modules (conscientiousness, distress tolerance, social relationship influence and regulation of emotions). As stated by Thomas A. Field, the reasoning for the modality is to allow the clients to discover how to develop coping skills to manage emotional distress (Field, 2016).

Chapman, PhD, A. L., & Fraser, S. (2006, September). Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Current Indications and Unique Elements PDF file., (), 62-68.

The benefits of behavioral therapy is used accordingly to each diverse population. This approach includes the client’s thoughts on learning skills, principles, and strategies, accompanied by continuing good behavior on daily living. Most clients like this approach because it provides them with a guide for behavior change along with successful results. It has a concrete method for dealing with problems of living. This behavior therapy is alarmed about the environment the client associate with on a daily basis because it affects the client’s social and cultural

DBT utilizes a behavioral technique in which the client learns to tolerate painful emotions without enacting self-destructive behaviors known as:

While using Dialectical Behavior Therapy, it has a couple special theories. The biosocial theory deals with whenever the client is most likely born with a predisposition toward emotional vulnerability. The theory itself deals with how issues from borderline personality develops. When the client lives in an unstable environment, the structure of the home living can affect their mental minds. The client's mind can cause them to become very destructive and affect their relationships with others and most likely diagnose them with personality disorder. (Dialectical Therapy) “DBT draws mindfulness techniques from Zen Buddhism in order to use here-and-now presence of mind to help people in therapy objectively and calmly assess situations” (Dialectical

Those with DBT have been found to have greater reductions in drug use, suicidal and self harming behavior. This could suggest that DBT allows for greater emotional health and sobriety for those diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

DBT is designed to treat clients at all levels of severity and complexity of disorders. A growing body of empirical studies has examined DBT. DBT has been the subject of the most study and is the most widely used (Carson-Wong, Rizvi, & Steffel, 2013).

According to Waltz (2003), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) focused is on recognizing accepting and moderating emotional responses in clients. Its main goal is to teach the patient skills to cope with stress, regulate emotions and improve relationships with others. DBT is designed for use by people who have urges to harm themselves, such as those who self-injure or who have suicidal thoughts and

However, an American psychologist, Marcha M. Lenehan develop a treatment called dialectical behavioral therapy, or DBT (Ogden, & Prokott, 2014). The dialectical behavior therapy is committed to helping those to develop tool to solve problems by searching for ways to reduce emotional suffering and build a life worth living. Its main goal is to teach the patient skills to cope with stress, regulate emotions and improve relationships with others. This therapy involves medications, such as antidepressant medications, antianxiety and antipsychotic drugs have also been used in treatment (Ogden, & Prokott,

DBT teaches mindfulness as being made up of the “what skills” and “how skills.” The what skills include: observation, description, and participation. The how skills include: non-judgmentally, one-mindfully, and effectively. In observation, the individual is invited to non-judgmentally observe what is happening both internally and externally. When describing, individuals are invited to non-judgmentally express what they have observed. Participation invites people to fully throw themselves into what they are doing and focus on that one activity. Being non-judgmental involves sticking to the facts of what have been observed (e.g. it is brown vs. it is ugly). The goal is to help people label their experience based on what they observed, described,

Though several personality disorders are highly complex and a challenge to treat, there are effective treatments available (“Treating Borderline” 1). The various treatments are broken down by method, the first of which being cognitive behavioral therapy, which attempts to alter the conscious thoughts and behavioral patterns of patients (Daniel); (“Treating Borderline” 2). Cognitive behavior therapy itself is broken down into two therapies, dialectical behavioral therapy and schema-focused therapy (“Treating Borderline” 2). Dialectical behavioral therapy, developed by Dr. Linehan, is centered on the basis that personality disorders are formed when hypersensitive patients are in situations which lack the emotional support they require, therefore leading to their “inability to regulate emotions” (“Treating Borderline” 2). Thus, the treatment serves to help the patient gain control over their emotion and behavior (“Treating Borderline” 2). The treatment itself consists of group and individual sessions and typically lasts approximately one year (“Treating Borderline” 2). During the group sessions, patients learn to become more aware of their behaviors and emotions through sessions pertaining to “problem solving, mindfulness meditation, and breath training“(“Treating Borderline” 2). In personal sessions, referred to as psychotherapy, the psychiatrist explains to the patient how the lessons from the group therapy sessions are applicable

The key concepts of behavior therapy are that it “is grounded on a scientific view of human behavior that accommodates a systematic and structured approach to counseling” (Corey, 2013, p. 250). The attention is focused on the behavior of the person. Behavior therapy is about giving control to the client to expand their freedom. “People have the capacity to choose how they will respond to external events in their environment” (Corey, 2013, p. 250).

The main goal of CBT is to help individuals and families cope with their problems by changing their maladaptive thinking and behavior patterns and improve their moods (Blackburn et al, 1981). Intervention is driven by working hypotheses (formulations) developed jointly by patient, his/her family and therapist from the assessment information. Change is brought about by a variety of possible interventions, including the practice of new behaviors, analysis of faulty thinking patterns, and learning more adaptive and rational self-talk skills. (Hawton, Salkovskis, Kirk, and Clark, 1989).

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) treatment is a cognitive-behavioral approach that emphasizes the psychosocial aspects of treatment. The theory behind the approach is that some people are prone to react in a more intense and out-of-the-ordinary manner toward certain emotional situations, primarily those found in romantic, family and friend relationships. DBT theory suggests that some people’s arousal levels in such situations can increase far more quickly than the average person’s, attain a higher level of emotional stimulation, and take a significant amount of time to return to baseline arousal levels. (Staff, 2013) People who are sometimes diagnosed with borderline personality disorder experience extreme swings in their emotions, see the world in black-and-white shades, and seem to always be jumping from one crisis to another. Because few people understand such reactions — most of all their own family and a childhood that emphasized invalidation — they don’t have any methods for coping with these sudden, intense