Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Marsha Linehan's study and efforts to develop a treatment programme for women struggling with many mental health issues as well as suicidal thoughts and ideas led to the development of dialectical behaviour therapy. In order to develop an evidence-based intervention strategy that explicitly addressed suicide behaviour, Linehan compiled research and literature on therapies for diseases including anxiety, depression, and other issues.

Many patients left the therapy programme because they didn't enjoy the treatment at first because they felt misunderstood or judged. Using this experience as a springboard, Linehan looked for a strategy that would make the patient feel welcomed by the therapist as well as strategies to assist the patient to accept themselves.

Later, this therapy changed into what is now known as dialectical behaviour therapy, a combination of acceptance-based techniques and methods for altering clients' behaviours and mental processes.

1. Improve Capabilities

Many patients undergoing dialectical behaviour therapy need to develop a variety of skills to support them in their daily lives, such as emotional regulation, mindfulness, interpersonal, and distress tolerance. These are taught during the weekly group skill training sessions.

2. Use of Skills

It is crucial that skills learned in group sessions are used in a person's regular life, outside of a therapeutic context. Therapists will assign homework to clients and even have them practise applying these skills during individual treatment sessions to make sure that they are truly being used.

3. Increase Client Motivation

In a DBT therapy environment, many patients struggle with a lack of motivation to adopt new behaviours and use their newly acquired abilities. You don't want all of this labour to be for nothing, thus the third goal of DBT is to make sure that client motivation increases. Therapists will ask patients to complete a self-monitoring form, also known as a diary card, every week so that treatment goals may be monitored. This diary card is used to decide how the session time should be divided up and to change any actions or ideas that could be obstructing the treatment plan.

4. Preserving Clinician Motive

Therapists must make sure that their own motivation levels remain strong in addition to those of their clients. These sessions can be mentally taxing since they involve people who have major mental illnesses. Clinicians will discuss issues and decide how to best continue with specific clients in a group environment during consultation team sessions, which last one to two hours each week.

5. Create a Rewarding Setting

The ultimate objective of DBT is to create for the client an environment that supports their growth and recovery and to deconstruct any surroundings that do not support those outcomes. One strategy for a substance abuser would be to cut ties with friends and acquaintances who could be encouraging frequent drug or alcohol usage.

Most people associate individual treatment sessions with DBT. During this period, clients work on increasing their motivation and self-acceptance and learning how to apply the skills they acquire to certain scenarios and events in their life after leaving the clinical setting.

The goal of DBT's skills training sessions is to teach clients behavioural skills. Imagine the group skill-training sessions as a classroom where the clinician serves as the group leader and gives the clients "homework" that involves putting these abilities into practise in their daily life.

It can be challenging for clinicians to deliver DBT services, thus sessions between clinicians in a consultation context are intended to keep therapists competent and motivated as they strive to offer the best care possible for patients with severe and challenging illnesses.