Marsha Linehan. The name ring a bell? She developed Dialectical Behavioural Therapy. DBT is a type of therapy originally developed to treat people with borderline personality disorder. It combines cognitive-behavioural techniques such as emotion regulation, mindful awareness, distress tolerance and acceptance. DBT is also supposed to be helpful in treating people with mood disorders such as bipolar disorder and depression, as well as self-injury.
Okay, Marsha Linehan is also a therapist and researcher and she herself has suffered from borderline personality disorder. Want to read her story, "Expert on Mental Illness Reveals Her Own Fight" in the New York Times? go to http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/health/23lives.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Okay, Marsha Linehan is also a therapist and researcher and she herself has suffered from borderline personality disorder. Want to read her story, "Expert on Mental Illness Reveals Her Own Fight" in the New York Times? go to http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/health/23lives.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
DBT has been life-changing for me. I took it at Burnaby Hospital 2 yrs ago. I know VGH offers it too, and I know various friends with all different diagnoses (PTSD, Anxiety Disorder, Depression, Bipolar, Borderline) that also rave about it. What a great concept, the idea of learning about 'self-soothing' and 'distress tolerance' and 'emotion regulation'. One key element is that DBT validates our suffering, and then teaches us how to heal it. Such a refreshing change from CBT, which might be good for mild to moderate depression, but if you're suicidal, only makes things worse because it refuses to validate our suffering as real. Anyway, that's my take on it, and I think DBT is going to catch on more and more over time.
ReplyDeleteSharon
Here's a great explanation of DBT I read: "The fundamental dialect in DBT is between validation and acceptance of the client as they are within the context of simultaneously helping them change." It "balances the use of acceptance and change strategies."
ReplyDeleteHere's a good write-up on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy
Be Well,
Sharon