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Yong Cho, Ph.D.

Yong Cho, Ph.D, is a psychologist licensed in New York State and the founder and president of The Tree Group and the DBT Institute of Korea. After graduating from the University of Utah, he earned his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The New School for Social Research.


He began his clinical training at Beth Israel Medical Center in 1997. In 1998, he continued formal psychotherapy and DBT clinical training at Zucker Hillside Hospital / Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. He completed an APA-accredited internship program at the same hospital. Beginning in the early 2000s, he became one of the first clinicians to apply DBT with Korean and Asian clients experiencing emotion dysregulation, borderline personality disorder, and Hwa-Byung symptoms. He also established the Asian American Family Clinic within the hospital system, where he provided psychotherapy for clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. His work was featured in The New York Times and other media outlets.


In 2003, he founded The Tree Group in Korea, where he has provided evidence-based psychotherapy programs including DBT, Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), and behavior therapy. In 2007, through collaboration with Marsha M. Linehan and DBT specialists in Seattle, he established the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Center of Korea under The Tree Group. In 2008, he invited Dr. Linehan to Korea and organized a DBT professional workshop.


In 2023, he founded the DBT Institute of Korea, a professional training institute dedicated to the ethical dissemination and implementation of DBT. During 2023–2024, he collaborated with Behavioral Tech to organize the official DBT Intensive Training program in Korea. He currently provides DBT treatment and education for Korean- and English-speaking adults, adolescents, parents, and families as both a clinician and educator.


Education and Licensure

  • Licensed Psychologist, New York State, USA
    License No. 015603
  • PhD in Clinical Psychology
    The New School for Social Research, New York, USA
  • MA in General Psychology
    The New School for Social Research, New York, USA
  • BA in Psychology
    University of Utah, USA

Major Professional Experience

  • Former Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, Ewha Womans University
  • Former Director, Open Clinic for Victims of Human Rights Violations
  • Psychologist, Asian American Family Clinic, Zucker Hillside Hospital / Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New York, USA
  • Completed Clinical Psychology Doctoral Internship, Zucker Hillside Hospital / Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New York, USA
  • Completed Clinical Psychology Doctoral Externship, Zucker Hillside Hospital / Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New York, USA
  • Completed Clinical Psychology Externship, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, USA

Seven Rooms: Author’s Preface by Yong Cho, PhD

Seven Rooms: Author’s Preface by Yong Cho, PhD


Author’s Preface


It was the fall of 1999, when I was completing my clinical training at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. Among the clients I met, one woman stood out to me.


When I first saw her, she was elegantly dressed, highly intelligent, and remarkably articulate. I wondered why she had come to the hospital. As psychotherapy progressed, however, I came to learn about the hidden scars of self-harm across her body, her unhappy childhood marked by a deep hunger for love, and the wounds left by years of sexual abuse by a relative. Outwardly, she appeared beautiful and composed; inwardly, she was marked by unbearable pain.

Whenever she was alone at night, she was overcome by intense anger and emotional upheaval, and she would harm both her body and her heart.


Over the past 17 years, as a psychologist and psychotherapist, I have met countless people suffering from similar pain. Through their suffering, I have come to understand more deeply both the true face of human beings and our imperfection.

Psychotherapy has a history of more than 100 years in the West, but in Korea it remains unfamiliar to many people. When I lecture on psychotherapy in Korea, I often meet people who view the treatment process as mysterious or understand it only in fragments.

This book began with one question: How can people come to understand psychotherapy more accurately?


For that reason, I chose the form of a novel to show parts of the psychotherapy process and to allow readers to experience it indirectly. Through this book, readers will be able to gain an engaging understanding of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which treats severe emotion dysregulation, borderline personality disorder, and self-destructive behaviors; Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), which treats Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); and the treatment of eating disorders.


This book contains seven stories adapted from the actual records of clients. It was made possible by the courageous clients who willingly agreed to allow their real experiences to be written and published. By facing painful memories they did not wish to reveal, they helped create a meaningful opportunity for treatment and understanding.


As they hoped, I sincerely wish that, through this book, many people who are suffering from overwhelming psychological pain will discover new possibilities and come to see psychotherapy with a sense of hope.


March 2016

Yong Cho, PhD


DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition: Preface to the Korean Edition by Yong Cho, PhD

DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition: Preface to the Korean Edition by Yong Cho, PhD


Translator’s Preface to the Korean Edition of the DBT Workbook


Twenty-four years have passed since the publication of Marsha M. Linehan’s first book on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder, and ten years have now passed since the Korean translation was published.

During these years, DBT has become an essential treatment approach throughout the world. It has been applied in clinics and in many other clinical and educational settings, offering new lives and renewed hope to countless people. For those who, overwhelmed by emotional pain and suffering because they could not regulate their emotions, had thought about death; for those who repeatedly came into conflict with others despite their intentions because they could not recognize or resolve their own difficulties; and for those who had no guidance for how to manage their emotions, learn new behaviors, and build a meaningful life, DBT has brought about life-changing transformation—almost like life-giving medicine.

Over the past 15 years, at The Tree Group / DBT Center of Korea, we have met and treated many clients who came to us through different paths. We have shared in their pain and wounds, suffered with them at times, laughed with them at times, and walked with them through DBT treatment.

Marsha Linehan personally visited Korea and provided training for professionals through a workshop hosted by our organization. Anthony DuBose, PhD, now Chief Training Executive and Director of CE/CME at Behavioral Tech, and Jennifer Sayrs, PhD, now Executive Director of Evidence Based Treatment Centers of Seattle (EBTCS), both leading DBT experts in Seattle, where the central home of DBT is located, also worked closely with The Tree Group DBT team. Through visits between Seoul and Seattle, they helped us implement DBT with fidelity.

The DBT system for education, training, treatment, and program operation is remarkably precise, thorough, ethical, and grounded in compassion. I believe it may be one of the finest therapeutic systems in existence today.

I first encountered Dialectical Behavior Therapy in 1998 while training at Zucker Hillside Hospital in New York. As I applied this new treatment approach with clients from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, I witnessed changes that were almost unbelievable. People who had repeatedly come to inpatient units because of impulsive behaviors and even self-harming behaviors related to emotion dysregulation began, after about seven months of DBT treatment, to find new jobs and form new relationships.

In a DBT program for Korean clients, symptoms of Hwa-Byung, a condition often seen among first-generation Korean immigrants, also began to decrease. Over the past 15 years, we have provided DBT individual therapy and skills training groups—which we called DBT Classes—for adults, adolescents, and parents experiencing a wide range of symptoms related to emotion regulation difficulties. Again and again, we witnessed clients and parents improve through the use of DBT skills.

Over the past 20 years, I have met treatment professionals from many different fields. One thing I have consistently felt is that DBT therapists are, in a distinctive way, deeply committed people. Anyone who has had the opportunity to experience Dr. Linehan’s lifelong research, treatment work, and compassion for clients up close cannot help but be struck by its depth.

The therapists who practice DBT around the world, bringing together high levels of professionalism, ethics, and spiritual commitment in both research and clinical settings, are truly remarkable people. Many are grounded in mindfulness and deep contemplative practice. They are also attentive to the dangers of excessive commercialization and strive to uphold ethical standards. They are people who devote extraordinary time and effort to treating a demanding therapy, with clients whose suffering is also deeply demanding. Perhaps, for this reason, clients and families who receive DBT treatment are fortunate in a very real sense.

In 2015, Dr. Linehan published the second editions of her 1993 works: DBT Skills Training Manual, Second Edition and DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition. Our team came to translate these two vast and intricately organized volumes. Dr. Linehan’s books represent the culmination of 25 years of DBT treatment and will be of great value to both professionals and clients.

Together with these two volumes, DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents by Jill Rathus, PhD, and Alec Miller, PsyD, is a DBT treatment manual for adolescents, parents, and caregivers. This book, too, reflects Dr. Linehan’s deep care and commitment. In keeping with the intentions and efforts of Dr. Linehan and DBT experts around the world, all proceeds from the three Korean DBT translated volumes will be used for academic and publishing work dedicated to faithful DBT treatment, as well as for the operation of the DBT Center of Korea.

Through this preface, I would like to express my gratitude to all of the staff members of The Tree Group who helped make the publication of this book possible. This translation could not have been published without their devoted efforts.

I hope that this translated volume will be used actively and ethically so that it may offer new opportunities for life to adults, adolescents, parents, and families suffering from emotion regulation difficulties.
I dedicate this book to all those who remain trapped in darkness because of deep wounds and pain.


2017
Translator, Yong Cho, PhD



PE Therapist Guide & Workbook: Preface to the Korean Edition by Yong Cho, PhD

PE Therapist Guide & Workbook: Preface to the Korean Edition by Yong Cho, PhD


Translator’s Preface


This book presents one of the most scientifically grounded approaches to healing the psychological wounds of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)—the suffering that can follow experiences of sexual assault, school violence, crime, war, disaster, and other traumatic events.

Oxford University Press has published a series of psychotherapy books selected for their empirical and scientific foundation. In the field of PTSD treatment, Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), developed by Edna B. Foa, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, was selected as one of the most scientifically supported treatment approaches.

Dr. Foa’s lifelong research and clinical wisdom are reflected in the two volumes published by Oxford University Press. Reclaiming Your Life from a Traumatic Experience: A Prolonged Exposure Treatment Program Workbook is written for trauma survivors. Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD: Emotional Processing of Traumatic Experiences, Therapist Guide is a carefully written guide for professionals and readers who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the treatment.

In the Korean translations of these two books, I included the phrase “A 12-Week Path Toward Trauma Recovery” in the title. For those who have suffered from PTSD for months, years, or even a lifetime, 12 weeks is truly a short period of treatment. I chose this title with the hope that those who are suffering may, through PE, find freedom as soon as possible from the pain that has worn down both body and mind, and begin a new step forward in life.

My connection with Dr. Edna Foa began in 2005, when I visited the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania and later hosted a professional workshop in Korea on Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) for the treatment of PTSD. Dr. Foa’s passion for treating PTSD crosses national and cultural boundaries.

After her successful treatment of survivors of sexual assault in the United States, various media programs introduced her work. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recognized Prolonged Exposure Therapy as an empirically supported psychotherapy. PE has also been implemented as a standard treatment in military hospitals for many U.S. service members suffering from PTSD after deployment.

Dr. Foa’s PE has opened new possibilities for life for people around the world: survivors of sexual assault, school violence, domestic violence, criminal violence, and many other forms of violence, as well as those suffering from traumatic shock after disasters and events such as September 11 or earthquakes.

Dr. Foa is not only an academically influential researcher and clinician—having served as chair of the DSM-IV committee responsible for establishing diagnostic criteria for PTSD—but also someone deeply concerned with the roots of victims’ suffering and with the social and political structures that produce violence and harm.

In conversations with Dr. Foa and her husband, Charles Kahn, a world-renowned philosopher at the University of Pennsylvania, I was struck by the depth of their knowledge about Korea’s history of Japanese colonial rule, the trauma of war between our own people, and the traumatic suffering that arose during Korea’s rapid economic development and democratization movement.
While working at Zucker Hillside Hospital / Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, I experienced the shock of September 11. The collapse of the two tallest buildings representing New York into clouds of dust created countless casualties and psychological victims in the city. I also directly encountered immigrants who suffered secondary trauma because of excessive pressure, suspicion, and investigation after the attacks.

Since then, in both the United States and Korea, I have worked clinically with survivors of sexual violence, including children and adolescents, as well as bereaved family members of serial murder victims, survivors of school violence, and victims of state violence.
As I witnessed these survivors finding new life through Prolonged Exposure Therapy, I became convinced that this psychotherapeutic method could be meaningfully applied with Korean clients as well. My only regret is that I was not able to introduce these books to readers and professionals sooner. At the same time, I ask for readers’ generous understanding, as the process of adapting and refining numerous treatment terms into clinically meaningful Korean language was long and difficult.

As these books are published, I would like to express my gratitude to many people. First, I offer my deepest thanks to the trauma survivors who patiently followed the treatment process based on these books and who are now living new lives. I also thank the staff members of The Tree Group, who participated carefully in the translation and clinical research process, and the team at Phil Communication, who contributed to the design and printing of these books. I dedicate these two translated volumes to all those who are still suffering silently from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and to their families.

Translator, Yong Cho, PhD



DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents: Preface to the Korean Edition by Yong Cho, PhD

DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents: Preface to the Korean Edition by Yong Cho, PhD

 
 
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.
 
Yong Cho, Ph.D.


DBT Skills Training Manual: Preface to the Korean Edition by Yong Cho, PhD

Translator’s Preface to the Korean Edition of the DBT Skills Training Manual for Professionals

Twenty-four years have passed since the publication of Marsha M. Linehan’s seminal book on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder, and ten years have now gone by since its Korean translation was published.

During these years, DBT has become an essential treatment approach throughout the world. It has been integrated into clinics and numerous other clinical and educational settings, offering new lives and renewed hope to countless individuals. For those who—overwhelmed by emotional pain and suffering because they could not regulate their emotions—had lost the will to live; for those who repeatedly found themselves in conflict with others despite their best intentions because they could not recognize or resolve their own difficulties; and for those who lacked guidance on how to manage their emotions, learn new behaviors, and build a life worth living, DBT has brought about a profound transformation—serving as a life-giving medicine.

Over the past 15 years at The Tree Group / DBT Center of Korea, we have met and treated many clients who came to us through different paths. We have shared their pain and wounds, suffered alongside them, laughed with them, and walked with them through their DBT treatment journey.

Dr. Marsha Linehan personally visited Korea to provide training for professionals through a workshop hosted by our organization. Dr. Anthony DuBose (Chief Training Executive and Director of CE/CME at Behavioral Tech) and Dr. Jennifer Sayrs (Executive Director of the Evidence Based Treatment Centers of Seattle), both leading DBT experts from the central home of DBT in Seattle, have also worked closely with The Tree Group’s DBT team. Through collaborative visits between Seoul and Seattle, they helped us implement DBT with the highest fidelity.

The DBT framework for education, training, treatment, and program operation is remarkably precise, thorough, ethical, and grounded in compassion. I believe it stands as one of the finest therapeutic systems in existence today.

I first encountered Dialectical Behavior Therapy in 1998 while training at Zucker Hillside Hospital in New York. As I applied this new approach with clients from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, I witnessed changes that were almost unbelievable. Individuals who had repeatedly faced inpatient hospitalization due to impulsive behaviors and self-harm related to emotion dysregulation began, after about seven months of DBT treatment, to secure employment and build healthy, lasting relationships.

When adapted for Korean clients, the program also successfully alleviated symptoms of Hwa-Byung—a condition frequently seen among first-generation Korean immigrants. Over the past 15 years, we have provided DBT individual therapy and skills training groups (which we call “DBT Classes”) for adults, adolescents, and parents experiencing a wide range of symptoms related to emotion regulation difficulties. Time and again, we witnessed clients and parents truly thrive using these skills.

Over the past 20 years, I have met treatment professionals from many different fields, and one thing I have consistently felt is that DBT therapists are, in a distinctive way, deeply committed people. Anyone who has had the opportunity to witness Dr. Linehan’s lifelong research, clinical work, and compassion for clients up close cannot help but be struck by its immense depth.

The therapists who practice DBT around the world, bringing together high levels of professionalism, ethics, and spiritual commitment in both research and clinical settings, are truly remarkable people. Many are grounded in mindfulness and deep contemplative practice. They remain deeply attentive to the dangers of excessive commercialization and strive to uphold the highest ethical standards. They are individuals who devote extraordinary time and effort to deliver a demanding therapy to clients whose suffering is equally demanding. Perhaps, for this reason, the clients and families who find DBT treatment are fortunate in a very real sense.

In 2015, Dr. Linehan published the second edition of her landmark 1993 works: DBT Skills Training Manual, Second Edition and DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition. Our team undertook the monumental task of translating these two vast and intricately organized volumes. Dr. Linehan’s books represent the culmination of 25 years of DBT treatment and will be of immense value to both professionals and clients.

Together with these two volumes, the DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents by Jill Rathus, PhD, and Alec Miller, PsyD, provides a tailored DBT treatment manual for adolescents, parents, and caregivers. This book, too, reflects Dr. Linehan’s deep care and commitment. In keeping with the intentions and efforts of Dr. Linehan and DBT experts around the world, all proceeds from these three Korean translations will be dedicated to academic and publishing work for faithful DBT treatment, as well as to the ongoing operation of the DBT Center of Korea.

Through this preface, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the staff members of The Tree Group who helped make the publication of this book possible. This translation could not have been realized without their devoted efforts.

I hope that this translated volume will be used actively and ethically so that it may offer new opportunities for life to adults, adolescents, parents, and families suffering from emotion regulation difficulties. I dedicate this book to all those who remain trapped in darkness because of deep wounds and pain.


2017
Translator, Yong Cho, PhD