Tag Archives: 청소년을 위한 DBT

 

 

Dr. Yong Cho’s English Translation Forward

It has been 24 years since Dr. Marsha Linehan published her first Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) book, “The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder,” and it has been 10 years since its translation was published in Korea.

Since then, DBT has become one of the most essential treatment approaches in the world. Applied across various clinical and educational settings—including hospitals—it has given countless people new life and hope. Like a life-giving remedy, DBT miraculously transformed the lives of individuals struggling with suicidal ideation due to uncontrollable emotions and pain, those facing constant interpersonal conflicts from a lack of self-awareness and problem-solving skills, and individuals who lacked a clear framework for living a meaningful life through emotion regulation and behavioral change.

Over the past 15 years at the DBT Center of Korea, I have encountered many clients—empathizing with their pain, and sharing their agony and laughter as we practiced DBT. Dr. Marsha Linehan visited Korea herself to train professionals through a workshop initiated by our institution. Dr. Anthony DuBose (Chief Training Executive & Director of CE/CME at Behavioral Tech) and Dr. Jennifer Sayrs (Executive Director of the Evidence-Based Treatment Centers of Seattle), who are key experts from the Seattle team, also visited Seoul to guide the Tree Group team on how to implement DBT with the highest fidelity. The training, teaching, clinical, and operating systems of DBT are astonishingly detailed, thorough, ethical, and rooted deeply in empathy. I truly believe DBT is the best therapeutic system in existence today.

I first encountered DBT in 1998 while training at the Zucker Hillside Hospital in New York. As I applied this novel treatment to clients from diverse cultures and races, I witnessed unbelievable transformations. Individuals who previously could not regulate their emotions, engaged in impulsive behaviors, and endured multiple hospitalizations from self-harm were able to build healthy relationships and secure employment after just seven months of DBT.

When adapted for Korea, DBT skills even helped ameliorate Hwabyeong—a typical somatization symptom often seen in first-generation immigrants. For the past 15 years, we have provided DBT individual sessions and skills training groups (which we call “DBT classes”) for adults, adolescents, and parents. In our early days, before the official adolescent and parent manuals were published, we used the adult manual as our primary textbook, supplemented by adolescent research data generously provided by Dr. Linehan’s Seattle team.

Dr. Rathus and Dr. Miller, the authors of the DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents, were vital members of that early expert group. They are psychologists who expanded DBT research and its clinical application to young people and their families. Without their efforts, the publication of these meticulous manuals and materials for youth would not have been possible. There are so many DBT therapists who are uniquely dedicated to this program; anyone would be astonished by the sheer depth of Dr. Linehan’s lifelong research, treatment innovation, and compassion for her clients.

Therapists worldwide who practice DBT embody a rare combination of high professionalism, ethical rigor, and a near-religious devotion to their research and clinical work. Guided by a profound worldview rooted in mindfulness, they remain wary of excessive commercialism and strictly adhere to ethical boundaries. They are the dedicated souls who take on the deeply challenging work of DBT, investing immense time and effort into helping clients through their most difficult moments. In this regard, the clients and families who find DBT are fortunate indeed.

In 2015, alongside the U.S. release of the DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents, Dr. Linehan published the second editions of the DBT Skills Training Manual and the DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets. Our team undertook the monumental task of translating these incredibly detailed, information-rich resources. The DBT Skills Training Manual for Adolescents and Dr. Linehan’s recent publications represent the pinnacle of 25 years of rigorous DBT research, and they will serve as an invaluable pillar of support for both experts and clients. The profits from these three books will be dedicated entirely to funding future DBT research and supporting the DBT Center of Korea.

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to all the staff members of the Tree Group whose dedication made the publication of this translation possible. I dedicate this book to everyone currently navigating their own darkness, with the sincere hope that these pages will be used ethically and effectively to bring healing and a renewed sense of life to adolescents and parents in pain.