National Network for Equitable Library Service

A memoir of Marsha Linehan's journey from a suicidal teenager to a world-renowned psychologist who developed the behavioral therapy DBT, to treat suicidal clients. When she was eighteen years old, Linehan began an abrupt downward spiral from popular teenager to a suicidal young woman. After several miserable years in a psychiatric institute, Linehan made a vow: if she could get out of hell, she would find a way to help others get out, too. This is the remarkable, inspiring life story of the woman who established the first meaningful therapeutic treatment for suicidal and borderline disorder personality individuals. After putting herself through night school and university, living at the YWCA and often scraping together spare change to buy food, Linehan went on to get her PhD in psychology, specializing in behavior therapy. In the 1980s, she achieved a breakthrough when she developed Dialectical Behavior Therapy: a therapeutic approach that combines acceptance of the self and ways to change. She was the first to include mindfulness as a key component in therapy treatment, along with specific life-skill techniques. Throughout her extraordinary scientific career, Linehan remained a woman of deep spirituality. Her powerful and moving story is one of faith and perseverance. Marsha Linehan shows how the principles of DBT really work-and how, using her life skills and techniques, people can build a life worth living.