ABSTRACT

In comparison to many cognitive-behavioural treatments, and particularly cognitive therapies, DBT especially emphasizes the role of affect as a key causal variable. Unlike some forms of cognitive-behavioural treatment, DBT does not necessarily require cognition as a mediating variable between prompting events and affect. DBT conceptualizes affect as the totality of the internal system response following a prompting event. Linehan (1993a) hypothesized that a heightened vulnerability to these systemic responses and the inability to regulate such responses leads to many of the behaviours associated with BPD.