Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
DBT is a form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy that was original developed to treat people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BDP). DBT was originally developed as a treatment for people with BPD who frequently do not respond to other forms of therapy, such as, standard Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). DBT has since been shown to be a more effective treatment for a wide range of other mental health conditions than standard treatments.
DBT has been shown to be an effective treatment in helping people manage intense emotions, such as, impulsiveness, anger, fear, anxiety and low mood. DBT also helps people who experience relationship difficulties and habitual behaviours, such as substance misuse, OCD, Deliberate Self Harm and many others.
Dialectical’ means learning to understand how two things that seem opposite could both be true. For example, accepting yourself and changing your behaviour might feel contradictory. But DBT teaches that it's possible for you to achieve both these goals simultaneously. Marsha Linehan, the research psychologist who developed DBT based it on the philosophical dialectical principle of hypothesis and antithesis, creating synthesis. Or to put it another way, that two things that seem to oppose each other can evolve or synthesis into something new. This synthesis helps people to regulate their emotions and thoughts by learning about triggers that lead to unhelpful and distressing emotionally reactive states. DBT helps people to develop understanding of the sequence of events and the skills necessary to manage these triggers more effectively. Helping them to manage their emotion, relationships and lives in more fulfilling ways.
