CORE CONCEPTS:

• DBT is based on a biosocial model, considering BPD as the result of the transactional interaction between biological vulnerabilities and socially learned behavior.

• Due to high emotional vulnerability, high emotional sensitivity, and a slow return to emotional baseline (Linehan, 1993; 2015), BPD patients show strong difficulties in regulating their emotions. In addition, an invalidating environment where the person’s perceptions, thoughts, and emotions are not acknowledged as valid, and their expression is ignored or punished in some way, can also lead to a lack of emotional regulation skills.

• Therefore, from a DBT perspective, the treatment focuses on increasing emotion regulation skills.