The Society for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy has been set up in the UK as a professional organisation for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) practitioners and for those who are interested in furthering the development of DBT as an evidence-based treatment..

The organisation exists for the benefits of its members.  We provide the opportunity for continuing professional development (CPD) in DBT through an annual conference and many special interest groups and local area networks that provide educational opportunities and networking possibilities.

The SfDBT in the UK and Ireland is also a member of the European DBT Association. https://edbta.eu/

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is an evidence-based treatment for people with difficulties with emotion regulation that Professor Marsha Linehan created in the 1980s. The theoretical underpinnings of DBT include radical behaviour theory, Zen and other acceptance-based philosophies, and dialectics.

It is a principle-based treatment that is divided into four stages of treatment. Delivery of DBT is team-based. DBT supports clients in creating a life worth living.

Stage 1, the most researched phase of DBT, supports people in gaining skills and strategies to increase behavioural control. Under specific conditions, this stage may also include treatment of PTSD symptoms.

However, generally, stage 2 of treatment (some research on this stage) would involve treating symptoms of quiet desperation related to experiences of (traumatic) invalidation that underpin patterns of dysregulation.

DBT (stage 1 and 2) has been demonstrated to be effective for people with a diagnosis of BPD/EUPD, C-PTSD, PTSD, Substance Misuse, Eating Disorder, Bipolar I and II, ADHD, Forensic populations, Suicidal and multi-problem Adolescents, children who are “super sensors”, as well as many others.   

DBT, provided by a team of providers to a community of clients, is a multi-modal treatment that consists of five functions and modes:

• Enhancing client motivation through individual therapy sessions (usually weekly)
• Enhancing client capabilities through skills training (usually through weekly skills training classes)
• Enhancing generalisation to the natural environment through between-session coaching
• Structuring the client’s environment through case management and providing education to the environment

Enhancing therapist capabilities and motivation through weekly consultation team meetings.

In populations that are not engaging in life-threatening behaviour, the focus of the intervention may be more on skills training with the individual therapy component removed.  This provision has also been widely researched.

DBT skills have also been taught and researched with non-clinical populations, such as university students and in schools