DBT has also been used in adolescents who are suicidal. In these studies it was found that there were a lot of treatments that were not as effective as DBT in reducing the symptoms in adolescents. Originally DBT was developed for adult use however this type of study and the many positive results that it gained are able to prove that DBT treatment could be so much more and that those who are interested in the overall reduction of suicidal thoughts and behaviors would benefit from this type of treatment regardless of age (Miller, Wyman, Huppert, Glassman, and Rathus 2000).
For those who participate in DBT training there are many opinions that they share about how things are. Also there are many opinions of the practitioner and how things are with him/her. For those who are suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder there are a number of constant symptoms and problems which are associated with the disorder. These include “repeated, suicide attempts (intentional, acute, self-injurious behavior without suicide attempts)….identity problems, unstable relations, lacking impulse control, emotional instability, and feelings of emptiness often combined with anxiety, depression and substance abuse” (p. 218).
There were really good results in the mind of the participants of DBT training. “All of the participants regard the therapy as ‘life-saving’ or something that have ‘brought them back to life,’ as they not to same extent as before, suffered from suicide acts, suicide ideation or self-harm impulses” (p. 220). The participants were all grateful to the process of DBT for all of the help that they gained from it. The participants all felt that there were specific parts of the therapy that made it more successful than other therapies.
These parts were that the group was based on respect and confirmation, the therapy brought them to a point of understanding and focus on their problems, the therapy gave them responsibility, the personal contracts made it had to fail, although the group therapy was hard it was essential, and the fact that there was telephone coaching and support helped to make it possible as well. The treatment was also able to change the participants opinion of treatment and those who are practitioners. As for the practitioners who were talked to for the survey. The therapy was proven to “dramatically” effect the lives of the patients through radical changes (p. 222).
The therapists felt that this type of therapy was effective for the following reasons: “the method is respectful and takes patients seriously, the method makes patients responsible and participating, and the method is broad, logical, and thought through in every detail” (p.224). The participants also admitted that they were able to change how they looked at the patients, that it was necessary to stick to the team approach and to stick to the manual, that through the therapy contract there was a great amount of support, and that although there was tough and hard work involved it helped the client to develop (Perseius, Ojehagen, Ekdahl, Asberg, and Samuelsson 2003).
DBT has lasting results in many ways. In one study it was found that prolonged alcohol resistance was maintained even after six months of the discontinuation of the DBT treatments. Another thing that was noted was that there was a significant reduction in the amount of times that the patient was admitted to the hospital for suicidal ideations or behaviors. This means that in comparison to typical therapy there are longer long term results with DBT treatment (van den Bosch, Koeter, Stijnen, Verheul, van den Brink 2005).
In another study that looked at the long term effects similar results were found that it did not affect the reoccurrence of substance abuse disorders but it did affect greatly the reoccurrence of the problems related with the Borderline personality disorder (van den Bosch, Verheul, Schippers, and van den Brink 2002). Therefore it would be conclusive to say that DBT is affective with treatment in improving moods and changing the frequency of suicidal ideations and tendencies but not always affective with the problems from substance abuse.