Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Psychologist Marsha Linehan developed dialectical behavior therapy as a multimodal intervention for borderline personality disorder, a chronic and severe condition that many mental health professionals once considered untreatable. Following several years of preliminary research and clinical use, dialectical behavior therapy emerged in 1993 as a manualized treatment intervention. Since that time, many well-designed studies have demonstrated dialectical behavior therapy's efficacy in improving some of the most entrenched symptoms of borderline pathology.

The success of dialectical behavior therapy is due in part to its innovative features, including its blend of Zen Buddhist principles and Western pragmatism, its well-articulated philosophical basis, its use of dialectical thinking to promote mental health, and its integration of mindfulness practices with structured interventions from behavioral therapy. In dialectical behavior therapy, communication plays ...