Seattle Hosts Ground-breaking International Training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Created by Dr. Marsha Linehan of The University of Washington

Seattle Hosts Ground-breaking International Training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Created by Dr. Marsha Linehan of The University of Washington

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) July 18, 2013

Behavioral Tech, LLC (BTECH), based in Seattle and created to bring the benefits of Dr. Marsha Linehan’s research to the world of professionals serving people suffering from mental illness, is hosting the first-ever Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive Training TM designed specifically for independent mental health care practitioners. Private mental health providers have gathered this week in Seattle from all over the world to learn from Dr. Linehan, the creator of DBT, and her team of expert trainers at BTECH.

Cited as one of the 100 most important scientific discoveries by Time magazine, DBT was developed by Dr. Linehan for the treatment of suicidal behaviors and is the treatment of choice for borderline personality disorder and other severe and complex mental disorders. Compassionate and scientifically validated, DBT combines mindfulness with the best of behavioral technologies to help people with severe mental illness build lives worth living.

Lizz Dexter-Mazza, Psy. D., a clinical psychologist and one of the trainers at the BTECH event in Seattle says, “It is nothing short of thrilling to be able to offer DBT training to solo practitioners for the first time. As a group, they treat the majority of people seeking help for severe mental illness, and there is no better treatment than DBT for the clients some see as ‘out of control,’ who are, in fact, the most difficult to treat. People with the most severe mental illnesses deserve the very best treatments available, and the professionals who treat them need to become skillful and supported in providing DBT to their clients.”

In comparison to all other treatments for suicidal behaviors, DBT is the treatment that has been shown to be most effective in multiple trials across several independent research sites. It has been shown both effective in reducing suicidal behavior and cost-effective in comparison to both standard treatment and community treatments delivered by expert therapists. It is the gold-standard treatment for borderline personality disorder, a disorder with an 8-10% suicide rate that afflicts between 4-6% of the population. In addition to reducing suicidal behavior, DBT is shown by rigorous research to be effective at reducing psychiatric hospitalization, dropout from treatment, substance abuse, anger, and interpersonal difficulties among individuals suffering from complex mental health disorders.

Jennifer Sayrs, Ph.D., ABPP, co-trainer of this BTECH training and Director of the DBT Center of Seattle, speaks from decades of experience when she says, “The people we treat are typically the clients that need the most mental health care resources. In this time of cost-consciousness, we need treatments that are effective, compassionate, and cost-effective. My own experience is supported by rigorous research that demonstrates DBT’s effectiveness overall for reducing suffering for the most complex patients, while it also reduces costly hospitalizations and in-patient treatment. My clients have found DBT to be completely transformative!”

Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D., ABPP of the University of Washington, is the founder of the Linehan Institute of Behavioral Technology, a non-profit organization that owns the company she founded, Behavioral Tech, LLC (BTECH). Dr. Linehan is actively involved in developing effective models for transferring effective treatments from the research academy to the clinical community. She trains mental health care providers and treatment teams who work with complex and severely disordered populations to use compassionate, scientifically valid treatments and to implement and evaluate these treatments in their practice setting.

Dr. Linehan is a Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, and Director of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics, a consortium of research projects developing new treatments and evaluating their efficacy for severely disordered and multi-diagnostic populations. Her primary research is in the application of behavioral models to suicidal behaviors, drug abuse, and borderline personality disorder.

BTECH develops and applies the most effective and efficient methods of training and provides a range of opportunities to learn and implement scientifically-based treatments. Behavioral Tech is the only organization exclusively authorized to utilize and disseminate Dr. Linehan’s materials for training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Due to this relationship with the treatment developer, Behavioral Tech always maintains and trains with the most current materials.

The next opportunity to be part of a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Intensive Training Model TM will be in the United States in New Canaan, CT at Silver Hill Hospital from November 4-8, 2013. Silver Hill is a non-profit hospital for the treatment of psychiatric and addictive disorders that people have relied on since 1931. Nationally renowned for treating mental illnesses and addictions, Silver Hill Hospital is an academic affiliate of Yale University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry.

For more information about DBT and training opportunities with BTECH, visit http://www.behavioraltech.org.