GBS provides counseling services on school campuses, group offerings, functional behavior assessment, IEP advocacy, and behavior support plans in collaboration with schools and parents. Consisting of a combination of individual psychotherapy, group, skills training, telephone coaching, and a therapist consultation team, DBT was the first psychotherapy shown through controlled trials to be effective with BPD. Since then, multiple clinical trials have been conducted demonstrating the effectiveness of DBT not only for BPD, but also for a wide range of other disorders and problems.
DBT, including DBT skills training, is based on a dialectical and biosocial theory of psychological disorder that emphasizes the role of difficulties in regulating emotions, both under and over control, and behavior. Emotion dysregulation has been linked to a variety of mental health problems stemming from patterns of instability in emotion regulation, impulse control, interpersonal relationships, and self-image. DBT skills are aimed directly at these dysfunctional patterns.
The overall goal of DBT skills training is to help individuals change behavioral, emotional, thinking, and interpersonal patterns associated with problems in living. Its guiding philosophy is behaviorism, which is based on the premise that attempts to improve the human condition through behavior change e. To date, behavior-analytic scientists have conducted thousands of studies to identify the laws of behaviorβthe predictable ways in which behavior is learned and how it changes over time.
The underlying theme of much of this work has been that behavior is a product of its circumstances, particularly the events that immediately follow the behavior. Behavior analysts have used this information to develop numerous techniques and treatment approaches for analyzing and changing behavior, and ultimately, to improve lives. Because this approach applied behavior analysis ABA is largely based on behavior and its consequences, techniques generally involve teaching individuals more effective ways of behaving and working to change the social consequences of existing behavior.
Treatment approaches based on ABA have been empirically shown to be effective in a wide variety of areas. However, because ABA was first applied to the treatment of individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism, this practice area has the largest evidence base and has received the most recognition. It is a time-sensitive, structured, present-oriented psychotherapy that helps individuals identify goals that are most important to them and overcome obstacles that get in the way.
