Hi Wepow,
Like Zoopora I have been in DBT for over two years. It is a very structured. My t has been through all the training the 2 week intensive etc... and now in the state I live in they are doing a pilot program to have t's credentialed in DBT. That is what my t is doing now and that is why he wants to tape my sessions (for his credentials.) He will send the tape in to one of Marsha Linehans cronies and have them critique his technique. He says he wants to do this with me because we have been working really hard for a long time and he wants me to get the best treatment I can. I said yah right, it's just cause I am the biggest borderline you know! Now I want to be clear DBT was originally treatment for BPD but now it has proven to be useful in treating other disorders as well. Not everyone in DBT is diagnosed with BPD. DBT is a lot of hard work and it has different treatment stages. I am still in stage one which is behavioral control and then stage two is trauma processing, three ?? can't remember.

The one thing I like about DBT is that it has certain assumptions that are part of the structure for example. Clients in DBT can not fail if something isn't working it is the treatment that is failing and it is up to the treatment team to figure that out. The other that I like is that DBT uses nonjudgemental, nonpejorative, phenominalogically accurate statements. In other words they can't say things like oh that client is being manipulative. Also they try to find the grain of truth in what you say even if it is off track.

On the down side DBT is highly weighted on skillful behavior. So you are exploding with an emotion it is kind of like Well that's ok now let's find a skill that will work for that. And sometimes you are like WTF?! I am going crazy and you don't give a damn. The other thing that I do not personally like about DBT is that they have a treatment team so everyweek your pdoc, t, and skills trainers all get together and have consultation about all clients in their DBT program. It is like a team of therapists treating a group of clients all together. I don't like that because it feels like an invasion of my privacy and confidentiality. But the rationale is to keep the therapists in DBT mode themselves. DBT for the therapists so they don't get burnt out or off track.

Anyway I could talk a lot about DBT and so could my t. So let me know if you have any other questions. I have to say DBT saved my life. Literally I would be dead by now. I haven't been hospitalized or made a suicide attempt since my second year now. So I guess Marsha Linehan might be onto something.