Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

For decades, clinicians have diagnosed Borderline Personality Disorder in their patients and felt helpless and overwhelmed by their diagnostic conclusion. No matter what degree or credential clinicians held, the diagnosis seemed to present a largely incurable and frustrating condition. Following Marsha Linehan’s development of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), the clinical world breathed a collective sigh of relief. Finally, an effective approach to the treatment of this complex Personality Disorder was in hand.

This is an introductory course on the application of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) with clients who were diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and includes an article by Dr. Marsha Linehan. There are four articles, which describe the core elements of DBT, the optimal conditions in which it is used, the theoretical beliefs inherent in its design and how they can be applied in the treatment of Borderline. Additional resources and references are provided for further study, but they are not part of the course.