Introducing DBT Tip of the Week

Hey! Here, every week for the first 16 weeks of the blog, we'll add some tips from Marsha Linehan's wonderful invention, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (adapted for adolescents by Alec Miller) If you're in or a graduate of DBT and don't see a skill here that you like (from the module I'm posting about) eMail it to us at selfinjuryanonymus@aol.com, and you just might see it here! Enjoy!

TARGET BEHAVIOR: A QUICK NOTE

There are three "Targets" in DBT. The term "target" is used to refer to things that interfere with your return to a more "normal" life (whatever that is) 

Target 1 (T1)

This is the behavior that brought you to DBT in the first place. It may be drug/alcohol use, self-harm, eating disorders, whatever. We don't say exactly what it is for a few reasons: to make it easier to apply DBT to all issues that are DBT worthy, and to not call attention to the behavior, trigger someone else, and for privacy.

Target 2 (T2)

Target 2 doesn't really exist in this setting. In face-to-face therapy, a T2 would be not attending a session, not practicing the skill during the week for homework, not doing your diary card (an emotion log, basically). T2 is anything that interferes with treatment but does not really cause physical harm to anyone.

Target 3 (T3)

This is anything that interferes with your quality of life. For example, I was originally placed in DBT for self-injury. I then developed Eating Disorder NOS, which would be a T3 because it was not what brought me to DBT. If someone who is in DBT for Anorexia and then starts using pot, the drug would be a T3. T3s can become T1 if they significantly harm an individual.