ABSTRACT
As the underlying philosophy of DBT, dialectics describes the process by which the development of the therapy and progress within the therapy occurs and by which conflicts that impede development or progress are resolved. Ancient Greek philosophers first developed dialectics as a method to improve logic, but modern writers, starting with Hegel, have extended it into a philosophy to explain the evolution of many aspects of life, including economics (see Tucker, 1978, for Karl Marx) and science (Kuhn, 1970). Dialectics has been defined as: “the concept of the contradiction of opposites (thesis and antithesis) and their continual resolution (synthesis)” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1964, p. 404). Linehan’s application of dialectics (1993a; Linehan & Schmidt, 1995) was influenced by work in the areas of evolutionary biology (Levins & Lewontin, 1985), cognitive development (Basseches, 1984) and the development of self (Kegan, 1982). DBT particularly emphasizes three dialectical assumptions regarding the nature of reality, namely that reality is: (1) interrelated or systemic; (2) oppositional or heterogeneous; and (3) continuously changing.
