Business and Management

Dialectical Behavior Therapy – What it is and How it Can Help

The dialectic or DBT behavioural therapy was developed by Linehan Marsha, which was also a developer of cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT. DBT came from cognitive behavioural therapy when Linehan found that CBT cannot be applied to all psychological problems, especially those associated with borderline personality disorders.

She found this when she attempted CBT on adult women who had a history of the urge to self-injure, attempt suicide and other harmful behaviours. The dialectical behavior therapy approach to psychological issues was that those who were raised in a bad environment due to biological factors had reacted abnormally to stimulating emotions.

 

DBT consists of two components:

  • Individual therapy
  • Group Therapy 

In individual therapy, therapists and clients discuss the problems that have appeared in the past week, note them on the notecard and make a treatment target. As soon as those topics are included, the quality of life is discussed and the client starts working to improve his life. The skills to improve quality of life are then set.

In group therapy, skills to improve quality of life are taught to clients to begin to improve their lives. The four main skills that are part of the dialect behaviour therapy are:

  • Core mindfulness
  • Interpersonal effectiveness
  • Emotion regulation
  • Distress tolerance

Dialectical behaviour therapy is proactive, engages clients to set and focus on goals and improves quality of life.