Regular readers know that I recently started dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). If you are new here, I started seeing a new therapist who specializes in DBT. I experienced sexual abuse at a young age, and I am in recovery from the effects of trauma. I chronicle my route to seeking help in my previous article. I focus now on the basics of DBT and the woman who created it.
DBT basics
Dialectical behavior therapy is a cognitive behavioral treatment developed to treat people diagnosed as chronically suicidal people with borderline personality disorder. DBT is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy. It is now used to treat other conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders. DBT includes four skills: mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotion regulation.
I stumbled upon a site called, My Dialectical Life which contains stories about how DBT changes people’s lives. One story stood out for me, so I am including an excerpt here:
“While feelings may be justified, acting on them may not be effective. My life has changed because I no longer act on painful urges and have learned that having emotions don’t make me “bad.” Learning to label emotions, and validate my internal experience has changed my life. DBT is for me a way of living…rather than, a program I check off a list and move on. For me it is a “way of living and being.” It means waking up each day and dancing with acceptance and change.” Catelyn, a DBT success story
Marsha Linehan, creator of DBT
“You can feel like a mental patient, but that doesn’t mean you have to act like one.” Marsha Linehan
Marsha Linehan founded DBT. She suffered from mental illness. Diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teen, she experienced seclusion, electroconvulsive therapy, and the medication Thorazine. She ended up at a psychiatric clinic where she regularly cut on her arms, legs, and stomach. She burned her wrists with cigarettes. After her discharge two years later, she was not much better. A discharge summary stated that “during 26 months of hospitalization, Miss Linehan was, for a considerable part of this time, one of the most disturbed patients in the hospital.”
She now states that schizophrenia was a misdiagnosis, her diagnosis is Borderline Personality Disorder. Since leaving the institution at 18, she has not taken psychotropic medications. Linehan’s mental health struggles served as a driver for creating DBT. Praying one night, she stated that she had an epiphany that led to her attending graduate school and eventually earning a doctorate.
“One night I was kneeling in there, looking up at the cross, and the whole place became gold – and suddenly I felt something coming toward me… It was this shimmering experience, and I just ran back to my room and said, ‘I love myself.’ It’s the first time I remember talking to myself in the first person. It was a transformation.” Marsha Linehan
Linehan’s Catholic faith formed part of DBT. Her faith helped her through her mental health struggles. She earned a B.S. degree in psychology from Loyola University Chicago, a Jesuit university. Linehan practices meditation taught by Catholic priests, and her experiences with meditation led to include mindfulness in DBT.
My thoughts on DBT
Finding out that Linehan’s faith influenced DBT was a sign that I am on the right track. The inclusion of mindfulness will reinforce my daily meditation practice. I suspect that DBT will help me go further down the path of recovery. I will keep you all updated on my progress.
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You are definitely on the right track