A DBT therapist delivers dialectical behaviour therapy, a treatment developed by Marsha Linehan originally for people who experience emotions with unusual intensity and act on them in ways that cause harm, most often through self-harm or suicidal behaviour. The name comes from its central balancing act: accepting yourself and your experience exactly as it currently is, while also actively working to change what is not working.
A programme, not a single therapy
Full DBT is built as a programme rather than a single weekly hour of talking. It combines individual therapy with a skills group covering four areas, mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness, alongside phone coaching available during a genuine crisis and a consultation team that supports the therapists delivering the programme.
Strongest evidence for the hardest presentations
DBT has the strongest evidence base of any therapy for borderline personality disorder and repeated self-harm, conditions that have historically been difficult to treat well. The structure of the programme, with its combination of individual work, group skills training and crisis support, reflects how much scaffolding is genuinely needed to help someone build a different relationship with intense emotion over time.