Borderline Personality Disorder
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Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a type of therapy specifically designed to treat people with BPD.
DBT is based on the idea that 2 important factors contribute towards BPD: you are particularly emotionally vulnerable – for example, low levels of stress make you feel extremely anxious or irritable, you grew up in an environment where your emotions were dismissed by those around you – for example, a parent may have told you that you had no right to feel sad or you were just "being silly" if you complained of feelings of anxiety or stress. These 2 factors may cause you to fall into a negative cycle – you experience intense and upsetting emotions, yet feel guilty and worthless for having these emotions. Because of your upbringing, you think having these emotions makes you a bad person. These thoughts then lead to further upsetting emotions. The goal of DBT is to break this cycle by introducing 2 important concepts: validation: accepting your emotions are valid, real and acceptable dialectics: a school of philosophy that says most things in life are rarely "black or white" and that it's important to be open to ideas and opinions that contradict your own. Jessica Joslin, LMHC is a specialist in the treatment of BPD. Reach her below to discuss an appointment. |