Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

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Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Patricia Faison Grand Canyon University PCN 605 July 4, 2012 Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself. (Bennet, 1982) Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness that is characterized by persistent uncertainty in moods, behaviors, interpersonal relationships, and self-image. Borderline personality disorder is also considered a disorder that causes emotional dysregulation and can be a great factor in the disruption of the family, long-term plans, sense of identity and work. Borderline personality affects between one and two percent of the general population. There are many approaches that a counselor can utilize in the helping profession when working with clients who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder; dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is one (NAMI, 2012). Dialectical behavioral therapy is very much like Marxist socioeconomics principles; however, the actual philosophy goes back in time over thousands of years. Accordingly, the process by which a phenomena, behavior, or argument is transformed involves three dialectical and crucial stages which are: (1) the stage where the initial thesis occurs: beginning (2) stage that involves the contradiction or “antithesis: negotiation of the phenomenon beginning (3) The stage of the synthesis of the thesis or “antithesis’: negotiation of the negotiation. To clearly put it, any whole process is composed of parts which are in constant change and dialectical behavioral therapy treats the client as a whole, rather than just treating the parts characterized by the disorder or disease.
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