Practice What You Preach: An Exploration of DBT Therapists Personal Skill Utilization in Burnout Prevention

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between DBT therapists personal skill use on burnout and stress levels. The study was exploratory in nature and used a mixed methods convenience sample that surveyed DBT practitioners through an international list serve. Burnout and stress were measured, along with skill use and demographic information in a sample of 135 participants. The main findings suggest that DBT practitioners use DBT skills on their own and report benefits of doing so in their personal lives; perceived stress in the workplace is a predictor of burnout; and DBT skill use was a significant predictor of decreased burnout for DBT practitioners. On a whole, the sample of respondents had very low burnout scores with only 3.7% of those surveyed scoring above the burnout threshold. Implications for general mental health practitioners and future research were also explored.