ABSTRACT
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a principle-based psychotherapy developed by Linehan (1993a, 1993b) for chronically parasuicidal women with borderline personality disorder (BPD). It is the first empirically supported treatment for this population. DBT blends standard cognitive-behavioral therapy with Eastern philosophy and meditation practices and shares elements with psychodynamic, client-centered, gestalt, paradoxical, and strategic approaches (Koerner, Miller, and Wagner, 1998). In a one-year, randomized, controlled trial comparing DBT with “treatment as usual” for outpatient, parasuicidal adult women with BPD, Linehan et al. (1991) found that DBT significantly reduced inpatient psychiatric days and parasuicidal behavior and increased treatment compliance. More recently, Koons and colleagues (1998) found that DBT was more effective than treatment as usual in reducing suicidal ideation, depression, hopelessness, and anger.
