Dialectical Behavior Therapy with
Borderline Personality Disorder:
Phase II - DBT Skills Training

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Course Description

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was conceived and developed by Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., in response to the difficult and challenging clinical issues that arise working with clients diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The dialectical world view emphasizes three principle perspectives:
  1. The client’s experience of self is systemic and arises from the interrelatedness of their subjective parts (perception, beliefs, emotions, schemas, gender etc.) to the greater whole (history, sociocultural influences)
  2. Reality reflects opposing forces in a constant state of change. Human development is not static but a process that is constantly negotiating and attempting to synthesize paradoxical and opposing truths (within dysfunction there is function; within distortion there is accuracy of perception)
  3. The evolution of the self is a dynamic process of tension between self-preservation and self-transformation that takes place over a lifetime within the whole person-environment system
The DBT model views BPD and suicidal behavior as a failure to embody a dialectical approach to reality: the client, psychodynamically “splits” or creates an “either-or” cognitive style that undermines the ability to perceive and engage with reality as a synthesis of opposing and contradictory forces. As a result of this cognitive fusion, BPD clients can experience profound identity confusion, emotional dysregulation, interpersonal, instability, isolation and alienation. DBT has proven effective in assisting psychotherapists with the therapeutic management of borderline client crises, parasuicidal and suicidal behaviors, emotional regulation, grieving and problem solving.

Course Objectives - Phase I

  • Describe and discuss the philosophical perspective of DBT
  • Describe and discuss the diagnostic features and therapeutic challenges of BPD
  • Explain the clinical advantages of applying DBT with BPD
  • Describe and demonstrate the core skill of Mindfulness in DBT
  • DBT case management: identifying the stages of treatment and core strategies (validation and problem solving)
  • Identify and select primary behavioral targets in treatment (e.g., decreasing suicidal behaviors, parasuicidal acts, suicidal ideation)
  • Identify second and third stage target behaviors
  • Describe and demonstrate the goals of Skills Training in DBT (interpersonal, emotional regulation, distress tolerance and mindfulness skills)
  • Explain and discuss how to structure treatment
  • Provide instructor modeling and participant experiential exercises

Course Outcomes - Phase II

Participants will be able to:
  • Identify and explain core theoretical aspects of DBT philosophy and treatment
  • Describe the different DBT Skills and what they address in treatment
  • Describe the rationale for utilizing DBT Skills Training for behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal patterns associated with problems in living
  • Situate DBT Skills Training into the larger DBT framework of treatment structure
  • Create a treatment plan that integrates DBT Skills Training

Course Announcement

Workshop Locations and Dates

Locations

Limassol, Cyprus

November 6 - 8, 2015
Friday, November 6: 5:00 - 7:00 PM (Optional Review)
Saturday, November 7: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Sunday, November 8: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Pafos, Cyprus
Neapolis University

November 3 - 4, 2015
Tuesday, November 3: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Wednesday, November 4: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Arthur Giacalone, Ph.D. Instructor Bio

Dr. Arthur Giacalone is a Clinical/Consulting psychologist in private practice in Walnut Creek, California, USA. He has taught widely in a number of venues throughout North America, Scotland, Italy, Cyprus, Hong Kong and China. Dr. Giacalone has studied, practiced and taught meditation and its applications to psychotherapy for over 35 years. In 1994 he Co-Founded The Institute of Contemplative Studies, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the training of graduate and postgraduate psychologists and psychotherapists. From 1989-1991 he held the position of Chairman in the Graduate School for the Study of Human Consciousness at John F. Kennedy University. He has been a continuing education provider for the California Psychological Association since its inception in 1994. Dr. Giacalone has also served as a management consultant and trainer in solution-focused coaching, organization development, and competency based executive hiring . The International Thomas Merton Society elected Dr. Giacalone a 2004-05, William Shannon Fellow for a documentary he is producing on Thomas Merton and Contemplation entitled, Silent Lamp: Thomas Merton on Contemplative Life and the Mysteries of the Heart. Dr. Giacalone is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology.
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