What Are Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills?

 
by Terri Sullivan

What are DBT Skills? A lot of people have been asking that question so I thought it was time to try and explain what DBT Skills are to those of us who have BPD (borderline personality disorder). 

First off DBT is short for Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and was developed by Marsha Linehan Ph.D. who is connected with the University of Washington in Seattle. This type of therapy is different from the ordinary cognitive and behavior therapies that have been used for many years. Many of the principles are the same however DBT adds other philosophies into the principles of the therapy as well. These modifications emphasize on the following areas: 

• acceptance and validation of behavior as it is in the moment

• treating the therapy-interfering behaviors of both client and therapist

• therapeutic relationship as essential to the treatment on dialectic processes.

DBT emphasis the importance of balancing the technology of change and a technology of acceptance. The focus of acceptance is an integration of Eastern psychological and spiritual practices used with Western approaches to treatment.

There are learned steps to DBT but before being accepted into a DBT class one must be ready for this major change. A person with borderline personality disorder must be ready to accept responsibility for one's actions. Just like many types of therapy there is a contract involved. A contract is a written agreement between you and the treating team that you will remain safe, if you are feeling unsafe you will seek out help and not injure yourself in anyway. You need to be stable to participate in DBT classes. 

DBT is usually done in a group setting with other people with BPD. There is also individual consoling with a separate therapist. The goal of the treatment is to help you to learn the new skills and to practice using the new skills when you are in a calm state so that when you aren't you can readily draw these skills up and use them to help you in situations that are hard or stressful. 

The first set of skills are the mindfulness skills. These are the core skills and the hardest to grasp but once learned you will be amazed at how differently you begin to process your thoughts and emotions.

The second set of skills are the interpersonal effectiveness skills. The third set of skills are the emotion regulation skills, and the fourth are the distress tolerance skills. While you learn skills 2,3, and 4 the first skill are used at the beginning of each meeting. This is done to make sure the core skills (the mindfulness skills) are being learned and applied.

Therapy in a DBT Class usually takes a year however depending on the class, and the individual, a person could go through DBT Skills training a few times until she/he becomes comfortable with the skills and feels successful in using them in everyday situations.

If you have heard of DBT and are looking for a trained therapist in your area, or if you have never heard of DBT and would like more information on DBT I encourage you to look at the BPD TODAY website at http://www.borderlinepersonalitytoday.com/main/  
and explore all area's of this wonderful site. Visit the area on how to locate a therapist or doctor. Here it does list the states and does give a list of doctors or therapists in your area to help in your search for better health.

Also there are links to Marsha Linehan and here is one of them http://www.behavioraltech.com/ . You can also purchase Marsha's book, "Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder" on the Mental-Heath-Today site for $30.00. Just go to books and order it through there. I have done this as I can't afford a therapist and I am self-teaching the skills. Also as of September 22, 2002 there has been a new bulletin board added to the Mental Health Today Boards for DBT Skills, a place where if you are learning a skill and have a question or if you have learned a skill and can offer guidance or a suggestion to someone seeking information, you are more then welcome to add a post. The mental health today bulletin board is located here.