The rising toll of self-harm and suicide attempts by teenagers in the U.S. is justifiably alarming. Help in addressing this crisis may be coming from a tried and true therapy that is widely available: Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT.
When Marsha Linehan, PhD, first developed this groundbreaking psychological treatment in the 1980’s, her primary focus was to reduce recurring self-harm and suicide attempts in emotionally dysregulated adults. It proved to be overwhelmingly effective in reducing these and other destructive behaviors associated with borderline personality disorder.
“Dialectical Behavior Therapy is really good about getting someone out of control back into control,” Linehan said about DBT. “Once a patient is in control, we can treat other things.”
Now, according to a recently conducted clinical trial, DBT has been shown to be equally effective in treating teenagers as does among adults.
Michele Beck, PhD, one of the primary researchers on the study team, explained the trial and its outcomes in the Stanford University School of Medicine medical journal SCOPE
You can learn more about this adaptation of DBT by reading the abstract of the study and outcomes online
Signup for BPD Updates
[wpforms id=”27400″ title=”false” description=”false”]
