What is dialectical therapy?

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, often called DBT therapy, is a method of treatment that was devised by Marsha Linehan, faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle, for the treatment ofborderline personality disorder (BPD).

Typically clients with BPD, as defined in DSM-IV, are notoriously difficult to treat (Linehan 1993a). They often do not attend regularly, frequently fail to respond to therapeutic efforts and make considerable demands on the emotional resources of the therapist (particularly when suicidal and parasuicidal behaviors are prominent).

The effectiveness of DBT therapy has been demonstrated in many controlled studies across different research groups. Because of this success and due to similar behavior patterns, DBT therapy is now being used in many settings as a viable therapy for the treatment of Bipolar disorder.