Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT, Dialectical Behavior Therapy) compiled by Linehan was first developed for individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder who display risky behaviors, and later adapted for many groups (such as eating disorders, university students) who have ongoing problems in emotional and relational dimensions. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy consists of a consultation group of experts who offer individual therapy, skills training, and counseling.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy has been developed for individuals who have serious problems in emotion regulation and has become widespread as a preferred psychotherapy approach in the treatment of many psychological problems. The main purpose of DBT is to reduce mood fluctuations in individuals and to gain the necessary skills to cope with difficult situations. In addition, it is aimed to stay calm and aware in difficult situations with the skills and behavior patterns learned, to improve emotion regulation, to strengthen mental and physical health, and ultimately to increase the joy of life and happiness.

Mindfulness-based methods applied together with cognitive and behavioral methods have an important place in therapy. In DBT, a therapy plan consisting of individual therapy and group therapy is implemented. During therapy, many therapeutic methods are used that increase awareness skills, which are divided into “what” skills and “how” skills. Mindfulness-based methods consist of both meditative exercises and informal mindfulness exercises that increase awareness capacity in daily life.

For a “Life Worth Living”: Development and Basic Principles of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is III. wave cognitive-behavioral therapy school. Applying the basic principles of social learning theories and cognitive behavioral therapies to patients with complicated structures and high risk of suicide, Linehan realized that the overemphasis on patient change negatively affected the therapy process in this patient group. By adding Far Eastern philosophies to the philosophy of therapy, he enabled the theory to take its current form. DDT, Based on the awareness that emotional dysregulation is the basis of many psychopathologies, it is a school that is widely used in the treatment of many diagnostic groups accompanied by emotional dysregulation and related cognitive and behavioral problems. In many efficacy studies, DDT has been shown to be effective in emotion regulation and related problems compared to other treatments.

The Birth of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT):

Marsha Linehan, the founder of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DDT), was born in 1943 in Oklahoma, USA, as the third of six children of an oil contractor father. He was a social child who was talented in playing the piano, successful in his lessons. However, at that time, Linehançeci felt severely incompetent towards her attractive and successful siblings, and no one around her noticed that something was wrong until her senior year of high school had severe headaches that put her in bed. After a while, his psychiatrist suggested that Linehan be inpatient at the Living Institute to understand the underlying cause of the problem. At this inpatient center, doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia and received a total of 30 sessions of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), 14 sessions in the first and 16 sessions in the second. However, neither ECT nor drug therapy,

Borderline Personality Disorder and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Borderline personality disorder is a common pattern that begins in adolescence or young adulthood and is manifested by marked impulsivity and inconsistency in interpersonal relationships, self-esteem, and affect. Patients with borderline personality disorder may apply to psychiatry for reasons such as suicidal thoughts, emotional fluctuations, interpersonal relationship problems, as well as with axis I diagnoses. Compared to other types of psychotherapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), originally developed by Marsha Linehan for chronic, suicidal, borderline personality disorder patients, seems more promising. The basic principles of DDT are based on dialectics, mindfulness-based exercises originating from the Far East, and behaviorism. DDT, proposes the biosocial model that emphasizes the interaction of biological sensitivity and devaluing environment related to the etiology of borderline personality disorder. At City Psychological Services the standard treatment protocol of DBT therpy in London consists of individual therapy, skill training, telephone interviews and consultation team meetings. In this article, after mentioning the biosocial model and treatment modalities, the effectiveness of DBT in borderline personality disorder will be reviewed in the light of current literature.

The Effect of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy-Based Emotion Regulation Program on Reducing Emotion Regulation Difficulties of University Students

This research was prepared to evaluate the effect of an emotion regulation program based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in reducing the emotion regulation difficulties of university students. The 8-session program focuses on the Awareness, Emotion Regulation, Endurance and Interpersonal Effectiveness skills that DBT aims to provide to clients. Eighteen students whose emotion regulation skills were found to be inadequate (9 experiments, 9 control) were included in the study group. The research is an experimental study with pretest-posttest model. When the findings were compared with the control group, It shows that the DDQ scores of the experimental group students decreased significantly after the 8-session program. This result reveals that the DBT Based Emotion Regulation Program is effective in reducing the emotion regulation difficulties of university students.