Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Based on over twenty years of research, radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO-DBT) is a breakthrough, transdiagnostic approach for helping people suffering from extremely difficult-to-treat emotional overcontrol (OC) disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and treatment-resistant depression. Written by the founder of RO-DBT, Thomas Lynch, this comprehensive volume outlines the core theories of RO-DBT, and provides a framework for implementing RO-DBT in individual therapy.

While traditional dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) has shown tremendous success in treating people emotion dysregulation, there have been few resources available for treating those with overcontrol disorders. OC has been linked to social isolation, aloof and distant relationships, cognitive rigidity, risk aversion, a strong need for structure, inhibited emotional expression, and hyper-perfectionism. And yet-perhaps due to the high value our society places on the capacity to delay gratification and inhibit public displays of destructive emotions and impulses-problems linked with OC have received little attention or been misunderstood. Indeed, people with OC are often considered highly successful by others, even as they suffer silently and alone.

RO-DBT is based on the premise that psychological well-being involves the confluence of three factors: receptivity, flexibility, and social-connectedness. RO-DBT addresses each of these important factors, and is the first treatment in the world to prioritize social-signaling as the primary mechanism of change based on a transdiagnostic, neuroregulatory model linking the communicative function of human emotions to the establishment of social connectedness and well-being. As such, RO-DBT is an invaluable resource for treating an array of disorders that center around overcontrol and a lack of social connectedness-such as anorexia nervosa, chronic depression, postpartum depression, treatment resistant anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorders, as well as personality disorders such as avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive, and paranoid personality disorder.

Written for mental health professionals, professors, or simply those interested in behavioral health, this seminal book- along with its companion, Radically-Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training Manual (available separately)-provides everything you need to understand and implement this exciting new treatment in individual therapy -including theory, history, research, ongoing studies, clinical examples, and future directions.

“Radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT) is a truly innovative treatment, developed through translation of neuroscience into clinical practice, integrating various influences from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based approaches, emotion, personality and developmental theory, evolutionary theory, and Malamati Sufism. RO DBT is applicable to a spectrum of disorders characterized by excessive inhibitory control or overcontrol (OC). This is the first treatment that directly targets social signaling and nonverbal aspects of communication not only in clients but also in therapists. ... This book on the theory and practice of RO DBT, together with the skills training manual that describes the content of skills classes, are excellent guides for clinicians who want to embark in delivering transdiagnostic treatments based on science and clinical practice.”

—Mima Simic, MD, MRCPsych, joint head of the child and adolescent eating disorder service, and consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital in London, UK

“A new and comprehensive statement from one of the more creative minds in evidence-based clinical intervention today, RO DBT brings together a contemporary focus on a limited set of key transdiagnostic processes, with new assessment and intervention techniques for moving them in a positive direction. Emphasizing flexibility, openness, connection, and attention to social signaling, RO DBT specifies the details that can matter, from how you arrange your consulting room furniture to how nonverbal cues signal social information. RO DBT seems destined to make an impact on evidence-based care in many corners of clinical work. Highly recommended.”

—Steven C. Hayes, PhD, codeveloper of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT); Foundation Professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno; and author of Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life