Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) was created by Marsha Linehan, PhD for treatment of people who felt that their lives were not worth living. DBT is the gold standard of therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and the skills it lays out have also been found to be helpful for many mood and anxiety disorders as well as Complicated PTSD (C-PTSD). The goal of DBT is to make your life “A Life Worth Living.”
There are Four Pillars of DBT, with a Fifth recently added. The original 4 skill modules are: Core Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance. The 5th skill set is Walking the Middle Path.
DBT was studied to be a comprehensive treatment program involving weekly individual skills training with a therapist, weekly group skills training led by two therapists, as well as a phone number to call in need for on-the-spot telephone coaching by a therapist on call. The therapists in a DBT practice meet to discuss the people in the DBT program to help gain insight and also so the therapist and staff practice the skills they teach. Marsha Linehan herself was a Zen Master. She was also diagnosed and hospitalized for BPD in her 20’s, so she had hard won knowledge about how to make a life worth living after trauma.
Reclaim Joy Medical does not offer the complete DBT treatment program. However, we are trained in DBT skills and practice them in our daily lives.
General DBT Skills Resources
- The DBT Skills Handbook by Marsha Linehan (Spiral-bound Worksheets)
- Behavior Tech: A Linehan Institute Training Company
- DBT Self-Help: A website by people who have been through a complete DBT program
- Diary Card Templates from DBTselfhelp.com
DBT Skill: Core Mindfulness
- Book & CD: The Mindful Way Through Depression, narrated by Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn
- The Headspace App (Subscription) for iPhone and Android
- The Calm App (Subscription) for iPhone and Android
- Dr. Suzanna Freerksen’s blog post with Mindfulness Resources
DBT Skill: Interpersonal Effectiveness
The Dime Game App (Free) for iPhone and Android