Dear Hope,

DBT was originally developed for Borderline Personality Disorder.

I don't have Borderline Personality Disorder and it seems to me to be difficult to differentiate it from Bipolar Disorder. However, I am assume that people with BPD lose their sense of identity, especially when stressed, and that BPD is supposed to help them retain it.

It is used now for other disorders for which it was not originally designed. I have to say that using it for ADD, at least, seems ridiculous. ADD, it is agreed, is caused by the torpidity of the part of the brain that enables concentration. That's why central nervous system stimulants are given for it.That is, so that this regulatory part will speed up and send the proper signals to the cortex to permit concentration. I don't see how changing your cognition would affect an autonomic function.

I have actually done two courses of CBT. In both, I was the only attendee who showed up for all the meetings. I found the sessions to be interesting academically, and I liked many of my fellow participants. However, I have never found cognitive therapy, (and DBT is a particular type of cognitive therapy), to be useful.

My opinion is that people like myself, with lifelong Major Depressive Disorder, need meds. We have already tried all the cognitive stuff both intuitively and as a result of research. It didn't work. I remember how outraged Francoise Sagan was when she developed breast cancer and someone implied that it resulted from her negative energy, (or some such bushwa). I think that the same is true of endogenous major depressive disorder. You can't think it better.

On the other hand, people whose Depression is situational can recover using cognitive measures and no meds. It is hard for many to know which group to place themselves in. Their life is crappy but is that a cause, an effect, or coincidence? For me it was easy.

Good luck!

Cordially