Dialectical Thinking in DBT for Trauma: an Overview
United States Department of Homeland Security
Key Points
- Dialectics conceptualizes the universe as an interconnected system full of opposites.
- We should align our approach to life with how the universe works to become more effective.
- CBT encourages an adversarial relationship with thoughts, and TF-DBT recommends becoming more aware and accepting of them.
- Negativity bias: we favor false alarms over no alarms.
- This results in more negative emotions but is adaptive for our survival.
- Negativity bias also results in automatic negative thoughts (ANTs).
- Questions to identify a potential ANT are: is it logical? Is there evidence? And does it matter?
Materials Downloads
DBT for Trauma Online Training
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Transcript
Greetings, and welcome to the seventh and final video in this series on dialectical thinking. In this video, let’s summarize a few of the key points we have covered throughout this module.
Point number one: dialectics is a concept borrowed from philosophy. In philosophy, dialectics is a cosmological perspective which conceptualizes the universe as an ever-changing, interconnected system that is full of opposites. 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.
Point number two: at an applied 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. Trauma causes us to see things from only one perspective, to think at the extremes, to remain rigid in our thinking, and to maintain old beliefs even if they no longer apply. Dialectical thinking can be paraphrased as balanced thinking, flexible thinking, thinking in the middle, finding shades of gray, and finding the middle path.