Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder

Marsha M. Linehan, PhD, ABPP, the developer of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Director Emeritus of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics at the University of Washington. Before retiring in 2019, she devoted her career to developing and evaluating evidence-based treatments for populations with high suicide risk and multiple, severe mental disorders. Dr. Linehan is the 2025 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Her contributions to suicide research and clinical psychology research have also been recognized with the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology, the Career/Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation, and the James McKeen Cattell Award from the Association for Psychological Science. In her honor, the American Association of Suicidology created the Marsha Linehan Award for Outstanding Research in the Treatment of Suicidal Behavior. Dr. Linehan was featured in TIME Great Scientists: The Geniuses and Visionaries Who Transformed Our World. She is founder of the Linehan Institute and is a Zen master.

"The bible of DBT. Over two decades later, Linehan’s comprehensive treatment manual still stands without peer as the complete and lucid introduction to DBT as well as the in-depth text for the advanced practitioner. DBT’s skills are effective and potent if delivered in the context of the theory, principles, protocols, and strategies of the treatment, all of which are presented in this book. It is essential reading for therapists delivering the significantly upgraded skills in DBT Skills Training Manual, Second Edition."--Charles R. Swenson, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts School of Medicine"Every once in a very long while in our field, a clinical innovation is introduced that profoundly improves patient care. Marsha Linehan's development of a cognitive-behavioral approach to borderline personality disorder is such a rare innovation....Her techniques are clear, teachable, and learnable, and make good common sense to the therapist and the patient. Dr. Linehan's methods have greatly improved my treatment of borderline individuals and my teaching of others in how best to understand and treat these patients.''--Allen Frances, MD"Marsha Linehan's tremendously in-depth and informative book and its companion skills-training manual offer a needed guide to the cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder....Her method has become so widely used by clinicians that the experts in psychosocial treatments consider it one of the best....Marsha Linehan's methods are highly eclectic because they are empirically based; they have been fashioned to fit what works best for borderline patients."--Lester Luborsky, PhD"Linehan is one of our most creative and articulate clinicians....As a true scientist-professional, she has not only been innovating in the treatment of one of the most daunting of disorders--borderline personality--but has successfully subjected her ideas to controlled empirical scrutiny."--Gerald Davison, PhD, University of Southern California"Dr. Linehan's approach is sensible, pragmatic, and effective. Most importantly, it offers the therapist a humane and sensitive perspective on persons with Borderline Personality Disorder. In short, it treats both the therapist and the client in a fashion that produces results."--Mark Ciocca, PhD, Central New Hampshire Community Mental Health Center- We highly recommend this text and its companion training manual.... --Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 5/16/1993ƒƒ ...represents a gold standard for treatment of this diagnostic category. --Behaviour Research and Therapy, 5/16/1993ƒƒ It is the most exacting and well thought out treatment plan I have ever seen written for any disorder....I have tried to find shortcomings with this book. I can find none. It is one of the best pieces of clinical work ever written. No matter what your clinical or research focus of interest, you will gain immensely from reading Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. --Journal of Family Violence, 5/16/1993

• I. THEORY AND CONCEPTS. 1. Borderline Personality Disorder: Concepts, Controversies, and Definitions. 2. Dialectical and Biosocial Underpinnings of Treatment. 3. Behavioral Patterns: Dialectical Dilemmas in the Treatment of Borderline Patients. II. TREATMENT OVERVIEW AND GOALS. 4. Overview of Treatment: Targets, Strategies, and Assumptions in a Nutshell. 5. Behavioral Targets in Treatment: Behaviors to Increase and Decrease. 6. Structuring Treatment Around Target Behaviors: Who Treats What and When. III. BASIC TREATMENT STRATEGIES. 7. Dialectical Treatment Strategies. 8. Core Strategies: Part I. Validation. 9. Core Strategies: Part II. Problem Solving. 10. Change Procedures: Part I. Contingency Procedures (Managing Contingencies and Observing Limits. 11. Change Procedures: Part II. Skill Training, Exposure, Cognitive Modification. 12. Stylistic Strategies: Balancing Communication. 13. Case Management Strategies: Interacting with the Community. IV. STRATEGIES FOR SPECIFIC TASKS. 14. Structural Strategies. 15. Special Treatment Strategies.