Dear T....

DBT (dialectal behaviour therapy) was developed specifically for people with borderline personality disorder - so firstly, unless you have this, it is not for you.

According to the trusty text books I think they do things like mindfulness, interpesonal skills as people with BPD have problems in this area, learning different methods to tolerate distress
Emotion regulation, because again those with BPD are very labile

not sure if this helps

I would tend to say, DBT can be useful for anyone. Not just BPD diagnoses. It teaches really good self regulation skills, which I think can be helpful for anyone in many different situations.
I hope no one feels excluded from trying it because they don't have BPD.

i don't have BPD, i am bipolarII. i have engaged in SI at three points in my life, now, ten years ago and when i was young. In neither case did it last long. i don't have many of the other criteria for BPD...or traits or whatever.

My T says that he hates that term anyway... he says that we all have aspects of our personalities that work or don't work to varying degrees.

Schema is the therapy approach we are about to do, it was originally developed for BPD too, but has been becoming more widely used for other issues.

Another good word for DBT. It was originally developed for BPD, but it's use has spread widely. All the aspects - mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal skills - help people with depression, anxiety, suicidal/self-destructive/overwhelming feelings.