Dialectical Behavior Therapy

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Description of Dialectical Behavior Therapy Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment developed by Marsha M. Linehan for the treatment of complex, difficult-to-treat mental disorders. Originally, DBT was developed to treat individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD; Carson-Wong, Rizvi, & Steffel, 2013; Scheel, 2000). However, DBT has evolved into a treatment for multi-disordered individuals with BPD. In addition, DBT has been adapted for the treatment of other behavioral disorders involving emotional dysregulation, for example, substance abuse, binge eating, and for settings, such as inpatient and partial hospitalization. Dimeff and Linehan (2001) described five functions involved in comprehensive DBT treatment. The first function DBT serves is enhancing behavioral capabilities. Secondly, it improves motivation to change by modifying inhibitions and reinforcement. Third, it assures that new capabilities can be generalize to the natural environment. Fourth, DBT structures the treatment environment in the ways essential to support client and therapist capabilities. Finally, DBT enhances therapist capabilities and motivation to treat clients effectively. In standard DBT, these functions are divided into modes for treatment (Dimeff & Linehan, Dialectical behavior therapy in a nutshell, 2001). Historical Development/Current use of groups Linehan addressed the need for effective and empirically supported psychotherapeutic treatment for borderline personality disorder. She discovered important shortcomings in standard cognitive and behavioral (CBT) treatments (Chapman & Robins, 2004). DBT was developed to address difficulties faced when implementing standard CBT to chron... ... middle of paper ... ...raft, et al. (1999) In a fourth study, Argas, Linehan, and Telch (2001) adapted DBT skills for the treatment of binge eating disorders. The researchers proposed that the essential problem in binge eating is underdeveloped and insufficient emotional regulation system. The researchers found that the individuals receiving treatment had significantly lower scores than the individuals that were assigned to the wait-list control group. In addition, 89% of the participants stopped binge eating by the end of the treatment. However, six months later, the number of participants that remained abstinence dropped to 56%. One limitation in this study was the sample size. There was a high rate of attrition in both the treatment group and the wait-list group. The study begun with forty-four participates, but at the end of the study only ten participants completed the study.

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