What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)?

This video describes dialectical behavior therapy. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a modality that was created by Marsha Linehan in the 1980s and it was specifically designed to treat individuals with borderline personality disorder. Even more specifically it treats the characteristic of suicidal tendencies that sometimes observed in borderline personality disorder. DBT is a particularly complex modality. It has a number of different components that were borrowed from a number of other theories and modalities. It is generally thought of as a program only modality, although there are versions of it that can be delivered by an individual clinician. From a client’s point of view DBT has three main activities: individual therapy (usually about two hours a week), group counseling (an hour and a half to two and a half hours a week) and telephone coaching (available 24/7). From the therapist point of view, you have those three components and a therapist consultation component. There are five functions to DBT.