Marsha Linehan on DBT

In this issue of Wise Counsel, David Van Nuys interviews Dr. Marsha Linehan, who is the founder of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), an empirically validated form of psychotherapy useful for treating people who have borderline personality disorder, suicidal people, and other people who are in severe and chronic psychological pain. What is exceptionally interesting about this method is the combination of behavioral and mind oriented approaches of psychology.

Marsha explains that she was bothered that though behavioral psychology offered her tools to bring about change with her clients, she needed to install some peace of mind and acceptance of the situation in them as well. In mind oriented techniques, that is all that is offered, but change was needed just as much. Hence she went out of her way to make a working combination of the two.

Now that she has managed to do that and empirical research shows the efficacy of DBT, she emphasizes for Dr. Dave, the work is not yet done. Still there is fine tuning to do, still she feels she could improve the therapy. She speaks in this respect of 'trimming down' DBT; finding out how the effect can be established with less effort.