What Is Dialectical Thinking in DBT
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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.
- Since the universe is constantly changing, we need to be willing to change.
- We should focus on becoming active, positive agents of change.
- We need to embrace ambivalence and contradictions. Opposites may simply be a matter of perspective.
- Dialectics refers to seeing things from different perspectives, to being flexible.
- Trauma causes us to see things from only one perspective, to think at the extremes, and to remain rigid.
- Dialectical thinking can be paraphrased as balanced thinking, finding shades of gray, and finding the middle path.
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Transcript
Greetings, and welcome to the first video in this series on dialectical thinking. In a previous module, we introduced the philosophical origins of dialectics from great thinkers such as Socrates and Hegel. In this video, we’ll explore in a little more detail the philosophical assumptions behind the idea of dialectics as well as some of the practical clinical applications of this concept. So let’s get started.
Okay. So let’s start off talking a little bit more about some of the assumptions behind this idea of dialectics. So as I know I've mentioned in a previous video, Dialectics is actually a concept that comes from philosophy. It’s not a concept that originates in psychology or the mental health field. And so dialectics is basically this cosmological understanding of the universe in which the universe is seen as a constantly-changing system.
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 let’s unpack that a little bit. As a system, what that implies is that everything in the universe is interconnected. What that also implies is that change is transactional. In other words, everything in this interconnected system affects everything else. And as a system, the universe is also constantly changing right. It’s a system that is not static. On the contrary, it’s a system that is never the same for two consecutive moments, right. The entire universe is always in flux.
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.