Week 8
Marsha Linehan
Behavioral Therapist, Zen Teacher, Devout
Catholic
Titles
and Streams of Thought and Practice
•Professor
of
Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Washingon
•Founder,
Dialectical
Behavioral Therapy
•
Originally designed for suicidal and borderline personality
disorder clients
•Past
President, Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy; the
American Psychological Association
•Zen
Teacher/Master, Founder, Empty Cloud Sangha, in the lineage of Sambō
Kyōdan
•Catholic
Contemplative,
studied under Father Willigis
Jaeger, O.S.B., also a Zen Master
Key
Points
•Marsha
Linehan’s Journey as Wounded Healer (Henri
Ellenberger, Discovery
of
the Unconscious)
•Two
Pillars
of DBT: 1) Radical Acceptance & Change, 2) Mindfulness
•Zen
Buddhism and Mindfulness Meditation as the basis of Radical Acceptance
•Radical
Acceptance:
“Letting
go
of what you want and accepting what is.”
•“Suppressing
what
you want is not the way to go. You have to radically accept that you
want something you don’t have and it’s not a catastrophe,” Linehan said
in a video
explaining her philosophy.
“Reality is what it is.”
•Radical
Acceptance
and
Change:
“You can’t change anything if you don’t accept it.” “You have to
radically accept your past and the moment you’re in right now, but you
can definitely try to change the next moment.”
Dialectical
Behavioral Therapy: Dialectic of Acceptance & Change => New
Realization/Synthesis
•Behavioral
Therapy
– scientific, evidence-based
•Designed
for
suicidal & borderline personality disorder patients and clients:
Go through the Fire (171)
•Spectrum
of
Mental Disorders
•Neuroses
--> Borderline
Personality Disorder (wild ride [171]))
--> Psychoses
•Four
Modules: Mindfulness,
Distress
Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness
Dialectical
Behavioral Therapist, Zen Buddhist, and Catholic Christian
Marsha
Linehan’s
own experience: Radical
Acceptance and Change
Selena
Gomez: Life-changing
experience
Linehan
Story - Four strands: p.
11: 1) Getting out of Hell, 2) Zen Master, 3) Professor, 4) Power of
Love
Turning
Points in Marsha Linehan’s Journey/Storied Self
•p.
44: Dr. O’Brien: “I think you might kill yourself.” Aversive Response:
“No! I won’t die!”
•p.
67: “Build a life worth living”: behavioral decisions step-at-a-time:
“No alcohol alone.”
•p.
73: “New happier me emerged”: “I don’t have to cut myself.”
•p.
94: “Pray in silence”: oneness with God
•p.
102: “God loves me. I love myself.”
•p.
115: Rejecting Freud, affirming learned behavior (behavioralist).
•p.
159-60: Allowing overwhelming grief: Ed dies, love of her life.
•p.
175: Grand Canyon: Oneness with nature
•p.
181: Kairos House of Prayer: Letting go of a personal God.
•p.
185: Adaptive Denial: Quitting smoking.
•p.
200-01: Hydrangea Moment: Second enlightenment: God is everything,
everywhere.
•p.
207-11: Tenure at Univ of Washington: Bend but don’t break (!)
•p.
234-40: Zen practice at Shasta Abbey: “Practice, practice, practice.”
•p.
262-264: Zen master Willigis:
Oneness with the teacher’s compassion.