Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Suicidal and Self-Harming Adolescents with Trauma Symptoms

Abstract

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens. Suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-injury behaviors are also significant public health problems in this age group. Despite the severity of the problem, there are no treatments that have been proven effective at reducing suicidal behavior in adolescents. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has shown effectiveness at reducing suicide attempts in multiple randomized trials with suicidal adults with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and has been adapted for suicidal teens with promising results. There is a strong association between childhood trauma, suicidal behaviors, and BPD traits. Accordingly, DBT targets both PTSD and self-injurious behaviors. In this chapter, we describe DBT and how it targets PTSD symptoms, discuss the use of DBT with adolescents with PTSD symptoms, and provide a case example to illustrate this approach.