Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) was developed through the findings of the American psychologist Marsha Linehan. She began working with people who experienced intensely fluctuating emotions, were acutely suicidal and frequently engaged in self-harming behaviour. She trialled different approaches including cognitive, behavioural and humanistic forms of therapy however found that each of these alone were not sufficient. She experienced her own poor mental health which helped drive her to help find a way 'out of hell' for others.

Marsha developed DBT in the 1980s to synthesise a number of different approaches so that people could have a wider palette of skills and a broader understanding of their emotions and experiences. DBT has gone on to be used for a wide variety of different populations across the globe and has built extensive evidence base that it is an effective intervention. DBT was originally developed to follow a defined format, however the approach has also been adapted to meet the needs of a multitude of settings and is beneficial for anyone who experiences emotional distress.