Psychotherapy Essentials to Go: Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Emotion Dysregulation

A quick-reference, multi-media guide to using dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to treat affect dysregulation.

Developed by Marsha Linehan, PhD, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment for borderline personality disorder that integrates principles of change and acceptance in order to help clients who have severe emotion dysregulation and impulsive behavior. This guide describes the primary tenets of DBT and illustrates some of its essential techniques―namely validation, commitment strategies, behavioral chain analysis, and skills coaching―that can be used with a range of clients. By understanding underlying problems and balancing compassionate acceptance with a push for change, clinicians can use DBT basics in their day-to-day work to help clients manage emotion dysregulation and impulsive urges.

Included in this comprehensive guide are a DVD of sample therapy sessions and clinical explication that describe how to implement the protocol, as well as a laminated pocket reminder card. An on-the-go package of practical tools that busy clinicians won’t want to be without.

Shelley McMain, PhD, a researcher, clinician, and educator, is head of the Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Clinic as well as head of Personality Disorder Capacity Building and Research in the Women’s Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She is also Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

Carmen Wiebe, MD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, where she coordinates Dialectical Behavior Therapy education for the postgraduate program. She also works in the Borderline Personality Disorder Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Robert Maunder, MD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and head of research for Mount Sinai Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry. His primary research interest is the role of interpersonal attachment on health.

Paula Ravitz, MD, is Associate Professor, Morgan Firestone Psychotherapy Chair, and Associate Director of the Psychotherapy, Health Humanities, and Education Scholarship Division for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, where she leads IPT training. She is also the director of the Mt. Sinai Psychotherapy Institute. Her clinical practice, teaching, and research focus on IPT and attachment informed psychotherapy.