An article about DBT: Underlying this skills-based approach is Dr. Linehan’s belief that borderline individuals are deficient in emotion management skills. According to her bio-social theory, borderline personality disorder results from a biologically based emotional vulnerability (high sensitivity, high reactivity, and a slow return to baseline) in combination with environmental factors that invalidate emotions over time and thwart the use of skills. This is a controversial departure from the psychoanalytic community’s view of borderlines as deficient in personality structure and personality functioning. In fact, Dr. Linehan advocates a name change for the much maligned borderline diagnosis, proposing instead the label of “”emotion dysregulation disorder”” and a reorganization of diagnostic criteria.…