Who Does DBT Help?
Individuals with pervasive emotion dysregulation, impulse control, instability in relationships and self-image, as well as those engaging in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and /or suicidal ideation.
Linehan’s (1993) original skills training manual was specifically and entirely focused on treating clients with high risk for suicide and those who met the criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, since the first edition in 1993, DBT has been empirically researched, adapted, implemented, and shown effective with a variety of disorders including (1) borderline personality disorder with co-occurring: suicidal and self-harming behavior, substance use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and high irritability, (2) cluster B personality disorders, (3) suicidal and self-harming adolescents, (4) pre-adolescent children with severe emotional and behavioral dysregulation (e.g., ages 7-12), (5) PTSD related to childhood sexual abuse, (6) transdiagnostic emotion dysregulation, (7) bipolar disorder, (8) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), (9) eating disorders (e.g., binge-eating disorder, Bulimia Nervosa), and (10) Major Depression: treatment-resistant major depression, and older adults with chronic depression and one or more personality disorders (The Linehan Institute, 2021).
