Reading

When will we have sleeping logicians, sleeping philosophers? I would like to sleep, in order to surrender myself to the dreamers, the way I surrender myself to those who read me with eyes wide open; in order to stop imposing, in this realm, the conscious rhythm of my thought. Perhaps my dream last night follows that of the night before, and will be continued the next night, with an exemplary strictness. It’s quite possible, as the saying goes. And since it has not been proved in the slightest that, in doing so, the “reality” with which I am kept busy continues to exist in the state of dream, that it does not sink back down into the immemorial, why should I not grant to dreams what I occasionally refuse reality, that is, this value of certainty in itself which, in its own time, is not open to my repudiation? Why should I not expect from the sign of the dream more than I expect from degree of consciousness which is daily more acute? Can’t the dream also be used in solving the fundamental questions of life? Are these questions the same in one case as in the other and, in the dream, do these questions already exist? Is the dream any less restrictive or punitive than the rest? I am growing old and, more than that reality to which I believe I subject myself, it is perhaps the dream, the difference with which I treat the dream, which makes me grow old.

- André Breton

Dialectical behavioral therapy:

In the 1990s, a new psychosocial treatment termed dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) became established in the treatment of BPD [Boarderline Personality Disorder], having originally developed as an intervention for patients with suicidal behavior. Dialectical behavior therapy is derived from cognitive-behavioral techniques (and can be seen as a form of CBT) but emphasizes an exchange and negotiation between therapist and client, between the rational and the emotional, and between acceptance and change (hence dialectic). Treatment targets are agreed upon, with self-harm issues taking priority. The learning of new skills is a core component - including mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness (e.g. assertiveness and social skills), coping adaptively with distress and crises; and identifying and regulating emotional reactions.
DBT can be based on a biosocial theory of personality functioning in which BPD is seen as a biological disorder of emotional regulation in a social environment experienced as invalidating by the borderline patient.
Dialectical behavioral therapy has been found to significantly reduce self-injury and suicidal behavior in individuals with BPD, beyond the effect of usual or expert treatment, and to be better accepted by clients although whether it has additional efficacy in the overall treatment of BPD appears less clear. Training nurses in DBT has been found to replace a therapeutic pessimism with a more optimistic understanding and outlook.