The Carlat Psychiatry Podcast Wounded Healers: Linehan and DBT Part 2
Jan 12, 2026
Explore how Marsha Linehan discovered mindfulness in a Buddhist monastery, shaping the foundations of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Dive into the debates between DBT and traditional psychoanalytic methods, and discover the reasons behind DBT's rapid adoption in mental health. Uncover the significant effects of treatment on self-harm behaviors, and witness Linehan's powerful return to the hospital that started her journey. Finally, reflect on her legacy, including her upcoming autobiography that promises to shed light on her remarkable life.
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Mindfulness And Radical Acceptance
- Mindfulness focuses attention on present experience without judgment or attachment.
- Radical acceptance means fully tolerating reality to reduce suffering and escape the pain of fighting what is.
Kernberg's Private Warning
- Otto Kernberg privately asked Marsha Linehan if she'd been in a mental institution after noticing her scars.
- He warned her not to tell anyone to protect her career as her DBT papers were about to be published.
Two Competing Models Of Borderline
- Kernberg saw borderline as unmodulated aggression from failures to integrate early good and bad experiences.
- Linehan viewed it as emotional dysregulation from a sensitive temperament plus an invalidating environment, leading to opposing treatments.
