Emotions	Highly sensitive, reactive responses, inappropriate and intense anger, and difficulty returning to baseline or settling down once the emotion has been set off.
Relationships	Intense, chaotic and unstable relationships, fears of abandonment, could be an absence of relationships, feelings of emptiness.
Self-Image	Lacking understanding of one’s preferences, goals, and values. Difficulty sticking to sense of self, having a wavering presence, a lack of self confidence.
Behaviors	Impulsive reactions often due to difficulty regulating the emotion or as an attempt to regulate the high emotion (life threatening behavior, eating, spending, addictions).
Thoughts	Extreme and inflexible thinking, difficulty both finding a middle ground in the extremes and generating non-judgmental interpretations.

Associated Concerns with BPD: Mood, anxiety, trauma, addictions, eating disorder

Table of Contents

Borderline Personality Disorder Therapy

DBT was developed in the 1970’s by Dr. Marsha Linehan to treat suicidal, self harming individuals diagnosed with BPD.

DBT is an evidence-based therapy with more than 30 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) proving its effectiveness in treating a range of symptoms.

DBT is comprehensive -individual therapy (weekly or bi-weekly), group therapy, (weekly in a group setting or individual sessions with an agreed upon frequency) phone coaching (as needed), and a consultation team made up of DBT clinicians for the therapist (weekly).

DBT is rooted in: mindfulness (increased awareness and learning to be present non-judgmentally in the current moment, acceptance strategies), dialectics (learning to hold opposite truths, ideas, or thoughts at the same time, increasing flexible thinking), and behaviorism (using behavior concepts to create change).

DBT balances acceptance and change– acceptance (validation of oneself, others, situations, etc. and radical acceptance of the moment) and change (problem solving strategies, developing helpful thoughts and emotions).

How Does DBT Work

Full DBT is the gold standard to treat BPD, suicide and self-harm concerns, and the overall patterns of dysergulation. This includes individual therapy (weekly or bi-weekly), group therapy (weekly), phone coaching (as needed), and consultation team for the therapist (weekly).

DBT skills training is effective as a stand alone or as an added intervention with other therapies.

Other treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder: Schema Focused Therapy, Mentalization Based Therapy, Transference Focused Psychotherapy.

DBT Trained at Wise Mind Counseling: Kim is a Linehan Board of Certification, Certified DBT therapist (the only approved certification by the creator of DBT). Kim is also on a DBT team and receives consultation with other certified therapists to enhance DBT skills.

Take Action: Why Start DBT Today

About 75% of people with BPD will make one suicide attempt in their life and self-harming behavior is common. DBT is currently one of three evidence-based therapies to treat suicide.

There is a wealth of research that continues to support DBT at this time.

People with BPD have a higher risk of developing an addiction, eating concerns, and other impulsive behaviors that DBT skills help manage.

It is easily accessible……Can you do DBT online? Yes! “Evidence-based psychological therapies can be delivered effectively and safely by video following a decade of research.
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) show that DBT treats much more than BPD – self-harm and suicide, mood disturbance, addictions, eating concerns, ADHD, PTSD, and more. (RCTs) are the highest level of study to prove effectiveness.
It is all inclusive and has been proven to be effective in treating diverse populations across the following variables: age, race, sexual orientation, and gender.

DBT and BPD Resources