Comment by w10-1

Worth reading for all.

This article situates Dialectical Behavior Therapy relative to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, dialectical philosophy, Zen/Mindfulness, and social movements. It lays out the limits of DBT, and shows why it is an improvement over (the dominant) CBT (which commenters seem to confuse it with).

Even if you're not interested in any therapy at all, it helps to understand the distinctions and how this therapy works, because it's close to what nurturing kids or friends or colleagues requires - closer than the pretend worlds of CBT or the hand-waving of hope groups.

This article and DBT in particular highlight the key dynamic for nurturing: understanding and sympathizing with one's difficulty, while getting one to take personal responsibility by showing practical ways to actually do that.

A lot sounds like basic socialization that should come from culture, but traditional culture has been generally shredded, and online culture is toxic, so I'm glad some of the wisdom is being captured and conveyed.

STEM/technical people will find the dialectic aspect difficult, since it's embracing conflicting terms/concepts. Just think of it like differentiation and integration: using a delta to identify common features alongside the conflicting ones.

(If I had any criticism of DBT and this article, it's that DBT (and CBT) aim to heal and maintain health, but doesn't actually address or treat the wide variety of injuries; it's nursing, not doctoring.)