One treatment that has shown substantial benefits in low security settings is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). DBT has been shown to improve BPD symptoms and reduce criminogenic risk. DBT is described as a cognitive behavioral therapy that is a standard one-year program. It requires weekly group skills sessions that incorporate four modules: core mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance. DBT also requires weekly one-on-one therapy sessions. The main idea of DBT is acceptance not change. Though there are few, there have been four DBT studies in high security settings. All showed a reduction in self-harm, dissociation, survival and coping beliefs, suicidal ideation, impulsivity and depression (Nee, & Farman, …show more content…
SFT treatment encompasses three main phases. The first is, bonding and emotional regulation; second, schema and schema mode change; third, development of autonomy. In a case study done by Loveless, et al. they looked at how using both DBT and SFT would benefit a woman who was suffering from BPD. The researchers concluded that SFT therapy was able to help her understand why she had the symptoms she did and where she developed them. The DBT helped her find new ways to cope with these feelings and symptoms. The two treatments seemed to work for her very well as her interpersonal relationships improved along with her daily life. Though the researchers did mention that they could not be sure the two treatments together caused this. It could have been the DBT alone or the SFT alone. This indicates that there is a need for more studies using both treatments to see if there is a significant benefit of using both (Loveless, et