DBT Made Simple , livre ebook

“ DBT Made Simple is an incredibly useful book that distills key elements of DBT into a clear, concise, and practical guide. Illuminating clinical examples bring to life several DBT strategies and principles, and practitioners will appreciate the many useful forms and handouts provided in this book. I recommend this book to students and mental health professionals seeking a concise, practical introduction to DBT.”
—Alexander L. Chapman, PhD, RPsych, author of The Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide and associate professor in the department of psychology at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
“Over the years, practitioners of dialectical behavior therapy have been searching for different training resources to deliver DBT in the therapy room in an effective way. Van Dijk’s book provides a fantastic contribution to DBT literature for one main reason: her approach to DBT is hands-on. DBT Made Simple is full of clinical applications, illustrative examples, sample dialogues, and troubleshooting tips. Her style is both engaging and straightforward, making of this book an easy and digestible resource for all clinicians, novice or advanced, who are interested in making a difference in their DBT clinical work.”
—Patricia E. Zurita Ona, PsyD, psychologist at East Bay Behavior Therapy Center and coauthor of Mind and Emotions
“Sheri Van Dijk has done it again! Her latest work teaches therapists how to use DBT with a wide variety of clients. She has accomplished an amazing feat—making DBT easy to understand without sacrificing its enormous depth. This is the book therapists have been waiting for.”
—Paula Fuchs, PsyD, assistant clinical professor of psychology in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
“ DBT Made Simple provides a well-organized, encouraging model to treat individuals with emotional dysregulation. This book is an excellent resource for therapists wishing to use DBT. It explains the theory of DBT and provides a clear, concise, user-friendly approach for therapists to learn, as well as teach, DBT skills.”
—Linda Jeffery, RN, cognitive behavioral therapist with a private practice in Newmarket, ON, Canada
“What a wonderful guide to dialectical behavior therapy for therapists, both on a personal level, as well as on a client level. Sheri Van Dijk’s book gives precise, clear direction for understanding and using DBT.”
—Kathy Christie, BA, ADR, mental health case manager
“This book is a must-have for therapists interested in developing an understanding of DBT and how they can incorporate aspects of this treatment with a broader client population. Van Dijk provides a clear and concise foundation of DBT theory, complete with helpful strategies and handouts for each of the DBT skills. The book also provides practitioners with the flexibility to choose components of the DBT skills that would help meet their respective clients’ needs.”
—Diane Petrofski, MSW, RSW, Family Health Team
“As the demand for dialectical behavior therapy increases from our clients, practitioners need to be more informed about its dynamic process and targets. This book provides both the novice and the well-informed clinician with an uncomplicated review of DBT. A must-have for any therapist, whether they are practicing DBT, or referring to others for this type of therapy.”
—Leanne Garfinkel, MA in clinical psychology and DBT-informed therapist

Publisher’s Note
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright © 2012 by Sheri Van Dijk
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
5674 Shattuck Avenue Oakland, CA 94609
www.newharbinger.com
Cover design by Amy Shoup
Text design by Michele Waters-Kermes
Acquired by Tesilya Hanauer
Edited by Jasmine Star
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Van Dijk, Sheri.
DBT made simple : a step-by-step guide to dialectical behavior therapy / Sheri Van Dijk.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60882-164-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-60882-165-5 (pdf e-book) -- ISBN 978-1-60882-166-2 (epub) 1. Dialectical behavior therapy. I. Title. II. Title: Dialectical behavior therapy.
RC489.B4V36 2013
616.89’142--dc23
2012028641
I would like to dedicate this book, first and foremost, to my family and my friends, who have supported me in my writing career. Without your encouragement, I never would have had the courage or the belief in myself to accomplish the things I have.
Second, I would like to dedicate this book to my clients. You have taught me much about life, and about how to be a better therapist.
And finally, I would like to dedicate this book to all those who have difficulties regulating their emotions. Have hope! It can get better.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: What to Expect
Part 1: The Foundation
1. The Basics of DBT
2. Preparing for the Individual Session: What You Need to Know
3. The “B” in DBT: What You Need to Know about Behavior Theory
4. DBT Strategies for the Individual Session
Part 2: The Skills
5. Introducing Clients to Mindfulness
6. Additional Skills for Mindfulness
7. Helping Clients Reduce Emotional Reactivity
8. Helping Clients Survive a Crisis: Distress Tolerance Skills
9. What Clients Need to Know about Emotions
10. Skills to Help Clients Regulate Emotions: Reducing Painful Emotions
11. Skills to Help Clients Regulate Emotions: Increasing Positive Emotions
12. Helping Clients Become More Effective in Relationships
Conclusion: Putting It All Together
References
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Tesilya, Jess, and the rest of my good friends at New Harbinger Publications for your support over the years. Thank you for giving me the chance of a lifetime and for believing in me.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Marsha Linehan. Your brilliance, creativity, and persistence have helped so many people create lives worth living. I thank you also for your courage, which has given so many people hope.
Introduction: What to Expect
In 1980, Marsha Linehan, a psychologist in the United States, was working with her team to find more effective ways of treating suicidal behavior, a focus that she later narrowed to borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD, an illness characterized by difficulties regulating emotions, often causes impulsivity, including suicide attempts and other self-harming behaviors. Traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) didn’t seem very helpful in treating BPD, and because the consequences of the illness can be so severe, Dr. Linehan and her team continued to work on developing new strategies to help individuals with BPD. The result was dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).
The Purpose of This Book
Although DBT was originally designed to treat BPD, it has since been found to be helpful for all sorts of other disorders. In fact, we now know that it’s quite helpful for anyone with problems regulating emotions, even if the cause isn’t related to a psychiatric illness. Because of its success in helping people learn to manage their emotions more effectively, DBT has become a highly sought-after treatment. Unfortunately, there are still too few therapists sufficiently trained in DBT, given the number of people looking for this form of help for their problems. So the main purpose of this book is to provide therapists with a basic understanding of the theory underlying DBT, the strategies used in individual sessions that make it stand out from traditional CBT, and the DBT skills themselves.
This book is not meant in any way, shape, or form as an attempt to duplicate the extraordinary work of Marsha Linehan. Her work has been invaluable to the field of psychotherapy in many ways. Rather, my hope is to make DBT more accessible to therapists who may be intimidated by it, thus making DBT more available to clients who would benefit from this treatment.
Who This Book Is Written For
If you are a therapist new to DBT, this book will provide you with everything you need to use the model to treat people with problems involving emotion dysregulation. For therapists whose goal is to learn how to provide DBT for individuals with BPD, this book will be a good start, but in the long run you’ll need to read Linehan’s seminal text, Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (1993a). If you’ve already received training in DBT and use it in your practice, this book will be a good review and will also provide some helpful suggestions and handouts. In addition, this book will help you use DBT for mental illnesses other than BPD and will provide you with different ways of thinking about and teaching DBT skills to clients.
If you’re new to DBT, I suggest that you read this book cover to cover before you start using the treatment with your clients. It’s important that you have a good understanding of the DBT skills before you try to teach them. It’s also important for you to have a good idea of how you wish to use DBT: Will you be using it only with BPD, only with other mental illnesses, or both? If you’re just learning the model and your intention is to use it with both types of clients, I suggest that you practice with clients who don’t have BPD first, as there are many more strategies and techniques you need to learn to use this treatment effectively with BPD clients. You’ll probably want to do more training and reading before you start using the model with clients with BPD.
It is also extremely helpful for therapists to actually use the DBT skills themselves, in their own personal and professional lives. This will not onl