BTech Blog – Page 2 – Behavioral Tech

Posted on August 22, 2019August 22, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

DBT in Forensic Settings (Part 1)

This feature by Dr. Nicole Kletzka is Part 1 of a two-part series about DBT in Forensic Settings. In part 1, Dr. Kletzka sets the stage by defining forensic psychology and beginning to understand how the model of DBT can be applied in forensic settings. We then take a closer look at the how the five functions of comprehensive DBT treatment specifically relate in forensic settings, beginning in Part 1 with the first function of client motivation.

Posted on August 13, 2019August 13, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

Staying Balanced When Treating Patients at Risk for Suicide (Part 2)

“A fundamental goal of consultation to the therapist is to provide balance for each therapist so that he or she can stay within the dialectical frame of the therapy.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder; Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D, 1993

This feature by Laurence Y. Katz, MD is Part 2 of a two-part series about therapists’ need to stay balanced when treating patients at risk for suicide and how the framework of DBT facilitates this balance. In part 1 (read it here), we examined the need for balance and the first two principles of how DBT fosters that balance. In this part, we will explore two more principles: therapist mindfulness practice and the application of radical acceptance.

Posted on July 26, 2019August 13, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

Staying Balanced When Treating Patients at Risk for Suicide (Part 1)

“A fundamental goal of consultation to the therapist is to provide balance for each therapist so that he or she can stay within the dialectical frame of the therapy.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder; Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D, 1993

This feature by Laurence Y. Katz, MD is Part 1 of a two-part series about therapists’ need to stay balanced when treating patients at risk for suicide and how the framework of DBT facilitates this balance. In part 1, we start by examining the need for balance and the first two principles of how DBT fosters that balance.

Posted on July 5, 2019July 8, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

Reflecting on DBT Assumptions about Patients and Therapy (Part 4)

DBT Assumptions about Patients and Therapy Part 4 Blog

“The most important thing to remember about assumptions is that they are just that—assumptions, not facts.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder; Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D, 1993

This feature by Vibh Forsythe Cox, PhD is our fourth and final part in this series of blogs about DBT assumptions. In DBT, in order to organize our behavior towards our clients, we adhere to certain assumptions. Through the first three parts of this blog series, we examined the assumptions that “Patients are doing the best they can,” that “Patients want to improve,” that “Patients need to do better, try harder, and be more motivated to change,” that “Patients may not have caused all of their own problems, but they have to solve them anyway,” that “the lives of suicidal, borderline individuals are unbearable as they are currently being lived,” and that “patients must learn new behaviors in all relevant contexts.”

In this fourth part, we will shine a light on the last two assumptions: that “Patients cannot fail in therapy” and that “Therapists treating borderline patients need support.”

Posted on June 24, 2019June 25, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

Reflecting on DBT Assumptions about Patients and Therapy (Part 3)

“The most important thing to remember about assumptions is that they are just that—assumptions, not facts.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder; Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D, 1993

This feature by Vibh Forsythe Cox, PhD is Part 3 in a series of four blogs about DBT assumptions. In DBT, we adhere to several assumptions that help us organize our behavior towards our clients. In our first two parts we examined the assumptions that “Patients are doing the best they can,” that “Patients want to improve,” and that “Patients need to do better, try harder, and be more motivated to change.” In this third part, we take a closer look at three more assumptions about patients with Borderline Personality Disorder and therapy described in the treatment manual. First, that patients may not have caused all of their own problems, but they have to solve them anyway. Second, that the lives of suicidal, borderline individuals are unbearable as they are currently being lived. And finally, that patients must learn new behaviors in all relevant contexts.

Posted on June 10, 2019June 11, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

Reflecting on DBT Assumptions about Patients and Therapy (Part 2)

“The most important thing to remember about assumptions is that they are just that—assumptions, not facts.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder; Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D, 1993

This feature by Vibh Forsythe Cox, PhD is Part 2 in a series of four blogs about DBT assumptions. In DBT, we adhere to several assumptions that help us organize our behavior towards our clients. In this second part, we take a closer look at two of the assumptions about patients with Borderline Personality Disorder and therapy described in the treatment manual: that patients want to improve and that patients need to do better, try harder, and be more motivated to change.

Posted on May 7, 2019June 11, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

Reflecting on DBT Assumptions about Patients and Therapy (Part 1)

“The most important thing to remember about assumptions is that they are just that—assumptions, not facts.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder; Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D, 1993

This feature by Vibh Forsythe Cox, PhD is Part 1 of 4 in a series about assumptions about patients with Borderline Personality Disorder and therapy described in the treatment manual. In DBT, we adhere to several assumptions that help us organize our behavior towards our clients. The first is the assumption that “Patients are doing the best they can.”

Posted on April 23, 2019April 23, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

The Role of Emotion Regulation in DBT (Part 2)

We sat down with Behavioral Tech Trainer Dr. Sara Schmidt to learn all about the role that emotion regulation plays in DBT. In Part 1 of this interview, Sara took a deep dive into the idea of emotion regulation and what it means to experience emotion dysregulation, as well as a framework therapists can use to help their clients assess their emotions.

In part 2, we take a closer look at how we support clients in understanding those emotions and the specific DBT skills to give clients to help them regulate emotions and change problematic behaviors.

Posted on April 8, 2019April 23, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

The Role of Emotion Regulation in DBT (Part 1)

We sat down with Behavioral Tech Trainer, Dr. Sara Schmidt, to learn all about the role that emotion regulation plays in DBT. With emotion regulation being such a central topic to the practice of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Sara shed light not only on how it factors in, but specifically how DBT allows therapists to work with clients to regulate emotions in a way that will enable them to change problematic behaviors.

In part 1, we started by uncovering what emotion regulation is and what it means for clients when they have trouble regulating their emotions.

Posted on March 11, 2019March 13, 2019 by Behavioral Tech

Zen Mindfulness in DBT

In our research and practice, we have seen the connection between Zen mindfulness and DBT. Behavior therapy has an inherent compatibility with Zen principles. Behavioral Tech trainer and Zen teacher, Randy Wolbert, breaks down for us the seven points of overlap between Zen mindfulness and DBT and how these links came to be.