Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder

I spent 12 years of my life from my youth through my mid 20's, depressed, eating disordered, and suicidal. This program outlined in Marsha's book gave me my life back! If it were not for this program who knows where I would be or if I would still be. I recommend this book in conjunction with DBT individual therapy and DBT group therapy. I purchased this book because I wanted blank worksheets so that I could make more copies for myself and so that I could learn more in depth about the program beyond the worksheets that my therapist gave me. If you have severe mental health problems and make an honest commitment to this program then I promise it will be a life saver. For severe mental health issues though the book alone is not enough, you must go through the program with the guidance of a knowledgeable therapist. I even recommend this book for people with mild to moderate mental health problems, anyone could really benefit from it. I know a lot of programs in the mental health field promise results without delivering but trust me when I say that this program is like no other, it actually works! I now work in the mental health field myself so this review is coming both from a patient's and a practitioners stand point.

"The Role of the Invalidating Environment in Emotion Dysregulation" (p.3) is the turnkey to this therapy. The CBT exercises about emotion regulation and stress tolerance are very good, but radical acceptance and mindfulness are what makes DBT therapy effective and revolutionary. Twelve step adherants will be familiar with these ideas too but the combination of modalities can provide something helpful for everyone. While initially written based on her work with women with suicidal behavior, like many new discoveries, DBT has proven to be effective for many different disorders.A recent article in The Atlantic by D. Dobbs describes the "genetic vulnerability" model for those at risk for "depression, anxiety, ADHD, ... anti-social sociopathic or violent behaviors." The invalidating environment that Linehan stresses may be the deciding factor in what happens to these high-risk people, whether they become sociopaths, addicts, or "creative, successful, and happy people."

This book is designed for use in skill training groups for BPD. The author offers advice on adapting it to be used in individual therapy however. Linehan is forging a place in the mental health field as the foremost clinican in dealing with BPD. The reader is immediately aware of the extensive amount of research that went into this workbook. The author is not writing about opinion, she is writing about the results of years of extensively scrutinzing the work of herself and others. In my practice I have found that the use of the book, especially the handouts in the back of the book, could be in nearly ever session I ever have with someone battling with Borderline Personality. After applying the ideas in this book I found that BPD was not the same beast in treating than in the past.

This book is the classic workbook on treating Borderline Personality Disorder. This a a very tricky diagnosis to treat and Ms. Linehan has done a lot to make it more treatable. The book is good. It is hard at times to apply it, particularly if you are trying to use it in individual therapy rather than in a group setting. It does provide clear lessons and concepts to conquer and is very helpful with handouts and homework pages that can be copied and used. It is quite a bit better (more useable) than a previous workbook I had on this same subject.

And that's me. I've been taking a class/group for months on the practices of Dr. Linehan. Of course, this was taught by an awesome doctor and an advanced degree student (who is definately going to make the world a much happier place). All of this combined, this workbook (which the class works out of) is happily, lifechanging. After almost 5 years of suffering with PTSD and depression suffered from injuries in a car accident, only these past few months working through this theory, I feel like my life is coming back now. My family is happier, my life is happier, I am happier. Find a therapist who CAN work with you through this theory and most everyone will benefit with a more positive and happier YOU! Good luck! It works!

I'm currently in DBT, and alongside another skills workbook I have purchased, I was receiving copied handouts found in this book! Since I'm in for "the long haul," I figured I would grab some more help/info in support of my treatment. You can never have enough information when it comes to your treatment, so why not purchase literature from the Mother of DBT for us Borderline's? No need to be ashamed with this purchase, and no need to stigmatize yourself either. Healing is a process that only you can deprive yourself of. Great buy, in my opinion. :)

The Author is the mother of DBT but maybe is too close to the material. I found the book very hard to read and stay with. Wow Technical. I was told as a Marriage & Family Therapist wanting to learn how to do DBT this book was required. I only got through it cause I knew it was important. Maybe she should have someone else write the book in a way that is readable.

Incredibly useful for any therapist. It's all very well (and in most cases essential) to encourage clients to become aware of and experience their feelings but it's equally important most of the time to help them find ways to be able to tolerate those feelings. This book is full of practical ways to help clients reduce their distress and learn to self soothe, so that they can become more self aware without feeling as if they are going to fall apart or be overwhelmed by unbearable emotions. Written by someone who has herself suffered from borderline personality disorder.