Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov;29(6):1843-1853.
doi: 10.1002/cpp.2764. Epub 2022 Jul 8.

Mindfulness as taught in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: A scoping review

Jennifer Eeles  1 , Dawn-Marie Walker  1
Affiliations

Mindfulness as taught in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: A scoping review

Jennifer Eeles et al. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

This scoping review considers 11 studies that have focussed on the effect of teaching the mindfulness element of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) on clinical outcomes. These articles utilized either mindfulness skills as embedded into the full DBT-Skills programme or a stand-alone mindfulness skills module (DBT-M), as treatment for clinical populations. The review of the research found that clinical application of mindfulness as taught in DBT leads to increases in self-reported mindfulness-especially non-judgemental awareness along with psychological measures that suggests an increase in mindfulness, for example, improved attention. The studies demonstrated that an increase in mindfulness had a positive effect on some clinical symptoms such as symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. Not all of the studies controlled for the effect of group, amount of practice or other elements of DBT therapy. The findings suggest that more needs to be done to establish the underlying mechanisms of change when being taught mindfulness in DBT.

Keywords: Borderline Personality Disorder; Dialectical Behaviour Therapy; mindfulness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Database search for literature using search terms mindfulness (in title) and DBT/dialectical behaviour therapy (in title)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American‐Psychiatric‐Association . (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Association.
    1. Baer, R. A. , & Krietemeyer, J. (2006). Overview of mindfulness and acceptance based treatment approaches. In Baer R. A. (Ed.), Mindfulness‐Based Treatment Approaches: Clinician's Guide to Evidence Base and Applications. Academic Press.
    1. Baer, R. A. , Smith, G. T. , & Allen, K. B. (2004). Assessment of mindfulness by self‐report: The Kentucky inventory of mindfulness skills. Assessment, 11(3), 191–206. - PubMed
    1. Baer, R. A. , Smith, G. T. , Hopkins, J. , Krietemeyer, J. , & Toney, L. (2006). Using self‐report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13, 27–45. - PubMed
    1. Bass, C. , van Nevel, J. , & Swart, J. (2014). A comparison between dialectical behavior therapy, mode deactivation therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy in the treatment of adolescents. International Journal of Behavioural Consultation and Therapy, 9(2), 4–8.

Publication types