Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) for Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by intense, unstable emotions, impulsive behavior, and difficultly in forming or keeping relationships, which manifests consistently in a person’s life from a young age. Receiving a diagnosis of BPD can be confusing, scary, and sometimes relieving. For some who have been suffering a long time, just knowing there is a name for their experience feels like a relief.

Many clients come to me with misinformation about BPD. For example, they may think that there is “no treatment,” or that they will “always be like this”, or that they will never be able to have satisfying relationships. However, the truth is that the symptoms of BPD are highly responsive to certain evidence based therapies, in particular, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).

Marsha Linehan developed DBT in 1993 specifically to treat BPD. DBT combines traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Buddhist principles of acceptance and mindfulness. DBT is designed to increase emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance, among other skills, and has been shown to be efficacious in treating BPD in several randomized-controlled trials.

I have advanced training and experience in conducting DBT with individuals and in group settings. I am currently offering individual therapy only. If you’d like to learn more about DBT or ask questions to see if you’d benefit from starting individual DBT, I am happy to answer any questions you may have.