Marsha M. Linehan

Marsha M. Linehan is an American psychologist, professor and author best known for creating dialectical behavior therapy, an evidence based psychotherapy that blends cognitive restructuring with acceptance, mindfulness and behavioral skills training. Developed while she worked with clients who were not responding to existing treatments, dialectical behavior therapy became a major advance in treating chronic suicidality and borderline personality disorder, and has since been extended to other conditions. Linehan is an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she directed the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics, and she founded Behavioral Tech LLC to train mental health professionals in the therapy and co-founded the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification to credential providers who practice it to an evidence based standard.