Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

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Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) originally developed by psychologist Marsha M. Linehan to treat women with a history of chronic suicidal behavior who met criteria for borderline personality disorder (Valentine, Bankoff, Poulin, Reidler, & Pantalone, 2015). DBT incorporates the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach of focusing on thoughts and feelings as well as places emphasizes on building and fostering healthy relationships with others. While originally designed to treat women diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, DBT interventions have been incorporated into treatment areas for a variety of other mental health concerns and population groups, including the population group of individuals …show more content…
An adapted DBT curriculum significantly modifies language and format to accommodate the specific learning and processing needs for individuals with an intellectual disability (Brown, Brown, & Dibiasio, 2013). The conceptual definition of adapted DBT will learning materials modified to accommodate the individuals learning and processing needs. Considering the complex needs of individuals with and intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviors, in additional to the absence of data indicating effective treatment options for this population group, the adaptation of DBT for individuals with an intellectual disability is justified (Brown, Brown, & Dibiasio, …show more content…
Direct care staff working with individual diagnosed with an intellectual disability, are often required to collect the data used for implementation of intervention and treatment (Madsen, Peck, & Valdovinos, 2015). The duration and frequency of the behavior will be collected during the baseline phase. Baseline data will be collected for two weeks. During the intervention phases, data is collected on an individualized data collection form that was developed to address targeted behaviors identified as a concern by the individual and team members. When the targeted behavior is displayed the staff will identify the antecedent, the exhibited behavior, and the intervention that occurred. The data is collected monthly, reviewed, and logged on an annual collection form by a designated team member. Additionally, after a period of calm following the behavior, the staff will remind and assist the individual, if needed, to complete the dairy card for the DBT group identifying coping skills utilized. Other than staff being aware of the DBT coping skills taught weekly in the skills group and diary card, there is no specialized training that is required to obtain the necessary