The Priory Group, I work with as an associate RE-CBT therapist offers various webinars,
workshops and seminars online.
In this particular webinar I was learning about the history and more recent developments in
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT).
I was curious about this webinar as I was encouraged to learn about DBT by my supervisor
when discussing a client with interpersonal issues during my supervision.
As a RE-CBT therapist I know that the ABCDE model of psychological health looks closely at so
called B&C connection (B-beliefs and C-consequences). Learning about another modality
which studies the C-consequences as well as the interaction between the biological factors
and environmental factors of a human disturbance was interesting to me.
The core DBT skills from mindfulness techniques, emotional regulation, distress tolerance to
interpersonal effectiveness reminded me of the main RE-CBT principles of self and other
unconditional acceptance with an aim to create a life acceptance (validation).
I also learnt that DBT is appropriate for a range of problems relating to emotional
dysregulation, including substance use problems, eating disorders, and anger-related
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 psychotherapies for the
problems mentioned above.
In conclusion I found several similarities especially based on the emotional responsibility
which I thought resembled the DBT’s so called inner wisdom. DBT and RE-CBT also aim to
challenge and modify the behavioural, emotional and cognitive patterns of an individual.
Although DBT is an extension of CBT from my understanding, one key difference I observed
was the DBT’s focus on the social and emotional aspects of a client’s life. Perhaps further
studies of this modality can help me integrate further learnings into my own practice.