Dialectical Thinking for Trauma
United States Department of Homeland Security
Key Points
- Dialectics is a critical skill set for clients who have been traumatized, as it refers to the ability to see things from different perspectives, be flexible in thinking, and change thinking based on new information.
- DBT has many more points of intervention than CBT, including thoughts, feelings, choices, behaviors, relationships, and environment.
- Instead of challenging and refuting thoughts, trauma-focused DBT recommends becoming more aware and accepting of thoughts.
- There are many strategies for teaching dialectics to clients.
Materials Downloads
DBT for Trauma Online Training
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Transcript
Greetings, and welcome to the sixth video in this review of TF-DBT. In this video we will do a quick review of dialectics, in particular dialectical thinking. So let’s get started.
Okay. So As we’ve already mentioned even in this review so far, dialectics is a concept borrowed from philosophy. So in philosophy, dialectics is a cosmological perspective which conceptualizes the universe as an ever-changing, inker--, interconnected system that is full of opposites. So why do we care about that? Well, since the universe we inhabit is full of opposites and is constantly changing, this has many clinical implications for us as people. The more we can align our approach to life with how the universe actually works, the more effective we become.
Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT skills training manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.,Reutter, K. (2019). The dialectical behavior therapy skills workbook for PTSD: Practical exercises for overcoming trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. New Harbinger Publications.
So At an implied clinical level, dialectics refers to the ability to see things from different perspectives; to think in the middle, not just the extremes; to be flexible in our thinking; and to change how we think based on new information. This skill set is especially critical for clients who have been traumatized. Why? Because trauma causes us to see things from only one perspective, or to think at the extremes, or to remain rigid in our thinking, or to maintain old beliefs even if they no longer apply. So that’s why dialectical thinking can be paraphrased as balanced thinking, or flexible thinking, or thinking in the middle, or finding shades of gray, or finding the middle path.
Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT skills training manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.,Reutter, K. (2019). The dialectical behavior therapy skills workbook for PTSD: Practical exercises for overcoming trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. New Harbinger Publications.