Course Description

*This selection is for the Final Exam only. Access to the book, Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Suicidal Adolescents, is required to complete the exam. To order the e-Book from Guilford Press (which enables you to take the course immediately), click here. To order the paperback book from PRP, click here.

This program will help the participant adapt the proven techniques of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to treatment of multiproblem adolescents at highest risk for suicidal behavior and self-injury. The authors take the reader step by step through understanding, assessing, and implementing individual, family, and group-based interventions for severe emotional dysregulation in teens. Guidance on everything from orientation to termination is enlivened by case illustrations and sample dialogues. 

23 CE credits/hours, 155 questions

Target Audience

Psychologists | School Psychologists | Marriage & Family Therapists | Mental Health Counselors | Social Workers

Learning Level

Intermediate

Learning Objectives

  • Identify adolescents who are most at risk and would benefit from DBT treatment.
  • List effective treatments for suicidal adolescents.
  • Organize and integrate knowledge of DBT treatment stages, primary targets, and strategies.
  • Summarize functions and modes of DBT program structure.
  • Recognize dialectical dilemmas for adolescents and address secondary treatment targets.
  • Assess adolescents’ suicide risk, diagnosis, and treatment feasibility.
  • Familiarize adolescents and families to treatment and obtain commitment.
  • Integrate DBT techniques into individual therapy work with adolescents.
  • Prepare techniques to include families in DBT treatment.
  • Explain multifamily skills training sessions and structure.
  • Summarize how to assess progress, run a continuation phase of treatment, and terminate treatment.
  • Recognize DBT program issues that may arise and make appropriate changes to better serve the adolescents.

Sections

  1. 1

    • Statement of Understanding (downloadable/printable)
  2. 2

    • Final Exam Questions (downloadable/printable)

    • Final Exam
  3. 3

    • Evaluation Questionnaire

About the Authors

Alec L. Miller, PsyD

Alec L. Miller, PsyD, is Co-Founder and Clinical Director of Cognitive and Behavioral Consultants, White Plains and New York, New York, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. Dr. Miller served for over 20 years as Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychology, Director of the Adolescent Depression and Suicide Program, and Associate Director of Psychology Training at Montefiore Medical Center. He is a scientific advisor to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention and the National Educational Alliance of Borderline Personality Disorder, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and past Chair of the International Society for the Improvement and Training of DBT. He has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and books on topics including DBT, adolescent suicide, childhood maltreatment, and borderline personality disorder. He is the coauthor of DBT® Skills in Schools, DBT® Skills Manual for Adolescents, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Suicidal Adolescents. He has conducted over 400 lectures and workshops around the world, training thousands of mental health professionals in DBT.

Jill H. Rathus, PhD

Jill H. Rathus, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Long Island University Post, where she directs the DBT scientist-practitioner training program within the clinical psychology doctoral program. She is also Co-Director and Co-Founder of Cognitive Behavioral Associates, a group private practice in Great Neck, New York, specializing in DBT and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Her clinical and research interests include DBT, CBT, adolescent suicidality, intimate partner violence, anxiety disorders, and assessment. Dr. Rathus has developed and conducted programs in DBT for adolescents and adults as well as males referred for intimate partner violence, and has received foundation and university funding to study, adapt, and develop assessment tools for DBT. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and chapters on DBT, adolescent suicide, couple therapy, intimate partner violence, personality disorders, assessment, and anxiety disorders. She is the coauthor of books including DBT® Skills in Schools, DBT® Skills Manual for Adolescents, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Suicidal Adolescents.

Marsha M. Linehan, PhD, ABPP

Marsha M. Linehan, PhD, ABPP, the developer of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), is Professor of Psychology and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics at the University of Washington. Her primary research interest is in the development and evaluation of evidence-based treatments for populations with high suicide risk and multiple, severe mental disorders. Dr. Linehan's contributions to suicide research and clinical psychology research have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2017 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology and the 2016 Career/Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. She is also a recipient of the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation and the James McKeen Cattell Award from the Association for Psychological Science. In her honor, the American Association of Suicidology created the Marsha Linehan Award for Outstanding Research in the Treatment of Suicidal Behavior. She is a Zen master and teaches mindfulness and contemplative practices via workshops and retreats for health care providers.