DBT: Dumb Blond Therapy, Diabolical Behavior Therapy and the very real Dialectic Behavioral Therapy

 

DBT which stands for Dialectic Behavioral Therapy was founded by Marsha Linehan in the late 1970s.  Linehan herself experienced a mental illness as a teenager, so she knew the kind of hell people with mental illnesses were going through.  At the time, there were two types of therapy; Behaviorism and Humanism. Behaviorism was a therapy that "blamed" the patient for their own issues. Patients had a tendency to get angry and stop therapy. Humanism was the exact opposite of Behaviorism and just as big of a failure.  Most of Linehan's patients at the time had Borderline Personality Disorder, and she tried to help them as best as she could. She tried a combination of Behaviorism and Humanism and that wasn't successful either. 

DBT was different as it includes Mindfulness. Mindfulness is where a patient is focused on the present moment while being aware of emotions, feelings, and thoughts without negatively reacting and being overwhelmed. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, and Humanism with Dialectics became DBT and it wasn't just for those with Borderline Personality Disorder but helped those other types of mental illnesses, addictions, and some eating disorders. It was almost called Zen Behavioral Therapy as Linehan was learning Zen and DBT does have quite a few qualities taken from Zen. 

DBT is a life-changing kind of therapy that teaches you skills in coping, distress tolerance, and other skills to help you move beyond what your brain maybe stupidly is saying to you, and how not to make shit worse. While this is just a small blog entry on DBT, there is a lot more to explore and learn.

Reference

https://psychotherapyacademy.org/dbt/history-of-dialectical-behavioral-therapy-a-very-brief-introduction/#:~:text=DBT%20was%20originally%20founded%20in,for%20treating%20borderline%20personality%20disorder.