'Building a Life Worth Living: A Memoir' is a #book chronicling psychologist @Marsha Linehan's trajectory from adolescent psychiatric hospitalization to creating @Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), the now standard for treatment of @Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). In Building a Life Worth Living: A Memoir, she connects her early vow to help others “get out of hell” with the later public disclosure of her own struggles, prompted by a patient’s question, “Are you one of us?”. The narrative outlines years in inpatient treatment, subsequent night school and college while living at a YWCA, completion of a PhD in psychology, and the 1980s development of DBT, a modality that integrates acceptance and change strategies and incorporates mindfulness and concrete skills training. Linehan emphasizes behavior-first learning, writing, “You can't think yourself into new ways of acting; you can only act yourself into new ways of thinking.” Commentator Gloria Steinem characterized the book as “a victory on both sides of the page.” The memoir also notes Linehan’s sustained engagement with spirituality and situates DBT’s principles within that context, presenting how its methods have been applied to support people facing depression and suicidal crises. (See Marsha Linehan; dialectical behavior therapy; Gloria Steinem; YWCA.)

Contexts

• #marsha-lineham (See: @Marsha Linehan)