Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a type of talk therapy that focuses on identifying what can and cannot be changed by the individual. Acceptance of what is out of one’s control and working on what can be changed is the dialectic that this modality utilizes. It was originally developed for Borderline Personality Disorder, but new research suggests that it is also effective for other conditions such as autism.

My personal experience was in a revolving DBT group that included individual therapy. The group time would cover skills from the DBT manual which includes mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation. These skills are taught explicitly, which I found very helpful as an autistic person. 

The way my group was structured was that we discussed the therapeutic skills and how we were trying to use them outside of the group. We traded ideas around regulation and shared when we were struggling with the skills. This was supplemented by weekly individual therapy sessions where we discussed how I would use the various skills to meet my personal goals.

DBT was the most effective therapy modality that I was involved in because of its focus on both change and acceptance. The skills were explained in a way that made them easy to understand and practice, and the nature of DBT is that it is nonjudgmental. My biggest criticism is that to be in this group I had to have a BPD diagnosis. My therapist was very clear with me at the start that this diagnosis was only so that I could be in this group since it was sponsored by my university, because they thought it would be effective for me. However, BPD is an extremely stigmatized diagnosis, so some might choose to avoid it and avoid treatment.

As research into DBT continues to evolve, autism is one of the conditions that shows the most promise with DBT intervention. I would highly recommend it to other autistics due to its focus on skill building and sensory regulation. If you are autistic and interested in DBT, it is likely that your therapist will test you for BPD since this is what DBT was initially designed to treat.