Clinical Grand Rounds
Treatment - Mindfulness & Acceptance
Jeffrey M. Cohen, Psy.D.
Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology (In Psychiatry)
Columbia University
Brooklyn, New York
Colleen A. Sloan, Ph.D.
Training Director, Psychology Internship Program
VA Boston Healthcare System & Boston University School of Medicine
Boston, Massachusetts
In the seminal 1997 article, “Validation and Psychotherapy” Marsha M. Linehan wrote “perhaps no where is the ability to emphasize with another person more important than when one is interacting with a person who is on the brink of suicide.” Although Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is now considered a more general treatment for emotion dysregulation applicable to many patient populations, its origins as a treatment for suicidal people greatly influenced its development. While DBT is firmly anchored in change-based behavioral science, it additionally brings in acceptance and the key therapeutic stance of validation. Validation is to communicate that a person’s “responses make sense and are understandable within [their] current life context and situation.” (Linehan 1993, pp. 222) Since the advent of DBT, validation has become a widely used trans-theoretical technique ubiquitous in the cognitive and behavioral therapies.
In this grand round, two experienced presenters will go in depth and demonstrate each of the six levels of validation as outlined originally by Linehan. These include listening and observing; accurate reflection; articulating the unverbalized; validating in terms of causes; validating as reasonable in the moment; and radical genuineness. These demonstrations will teach attendees how to enhance their use of the technique of validation in cognitive and behavioral practice.
The presenters will also convey that no where is the ability to validate a person more important than when working with a person who has been chronically invalidated on the basis of a minoritized identity such as sexual orientation, gender identity, or racial / ethnic identity.
The presenters will demonstrate the six key levels of validation with a particular focus on validating those who have been chronically invalidated on the basis of minoritized identity. The presenters are master clinicians and researchers who have published in peer-reviewed journals on Dialectical Behavior Therapy and its application to sexual and gender minority people.