Developed at the University of Washington by Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., DBT was originally designed to treat interpersonal chaos, intense emotional swings, impulsiveness, confusion about the self (identity), and suicidal behavior. It is based on a bio-social theory that states that problems develop from the interaction of biological factors (physiological makeup) and environmental factors (learning history), which together create difficulty managing emotions. Treatment using DBT is therefore appropriate for a range of additional problems that relate to emotion dysregulation such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, anger-related problems, and substance use problems. A great deal of research has been conducted on the effectiveness of DBT and, in general, DBT appears as effective or more effective than other “talk based” psychotherapies for the problems mentioned above.
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