Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Programs that offer a form of therapy developed by Marsha M. Linehan that is designed especially for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) who are involved in self-cutting or other forms of self-mutilitation, have attempted suicide or have suicidal thoughts or exhibit other behaviors related to self-injury. Treatment involves individual therapy, a skills group, telephone contact and therapist consultation. The group skills training has four modules: core mindfulness skills, interpersonal effectiveness skills, emotion regulation skills and distress tolerance skills. The focus of the group sessions is on learning and practicing adaptive skills that are particularly relevant to the problems experienced by people with BPD. While originally developed for this population, dialectical behavior therapy has been used with people who have other types of emotional disorders.