Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Eating Disorders

In this course, attendees learn how to implement DBT – dialectical behaviour therapy – adapted specifically to meet the needs of clients with BED (binge eating disorder) and BN (bulimia nervosa). Standard DBT was developed by Marsha Linehan in 1993 to meet the needs of her borderline client population, but the efficacy of the therapy has seen its use mushroom to numerous other client populations. The 20-session program, whose framework this course uses, has been empirically demonstrated to sharply reduce the incidence of binge eating and purging up to six months post-treatment for those completing the program. Using DBT’s theoretical rationale, assumptions, and techniques, this course shows attendees how to help clients use DBT skills of mindfulness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance to deal with emotions, thereby eliminating the need for binge eating and compensatory behaviours such as purging.