Walking the Middle Path (DBT for Teens)
A handout for teenagers and parents introducing the Walking the Middle Path skills from DBT for adolescents: dialectical thinking, validation, and the three common family dilemmas where both sides get stuck in extremes.
About this resource
Walking the Middle Path is the skills module that Rathus and Miller added to dialectical behaviour therapy when they adapted it for adolescents and their families. It addresses the reality that in adolescent DBT the family is part of the treatment, and that much of the emotional dysregulation seen in the young person is maintained by a transactional cycle in which family members polarise into opposite extremes and invalidate one another. The module teaches three things: dialectical thinking, the idea that two seemingly opposite positions can both hold truth; validation of self and others; and behaviour change principles.
This handout covers the first two components and the family dilemmas that Rathus and Miller describe: being too loose versus too strict, making light of problem behaviours versus making too much of normal adolescent behaviour, and pushing independence versus fostering dependence. It is written to be read by the young person and the parent together, with each side's perspective given equal weight, and closes with a joint reflection on where the family currently sits on each dilemma.
The professional version adds guidance on introducing dialectics without it sounding like 'both sides are right', on coaching validation in the room when one party is dismissive, and on using the dilemmas to negotiate concrete middle-path agreements.
How to use it
- Use with the young person and at least one parent or caregiver present, ideally in a multi-family skills group or a family session.
- Introduce dialectics with a low-stakes example from the family's own life before applying it to a live conflict.
- Teach validation by demonstrating it. Validate each family member in turn during the session and name what you are doing.
- Work through the three dilemmas and ask each person to mark where they think the family sits, then compare. Disagreement is expected and useful.
- Set one middle-path agreement as a between-session task, with each party naming what they will do differently.
References
- Rathus, J. H., & Miller, A. L. (2015). DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents. Guilford Press.
- Miller, A. L., Rathus, J. H., & Linehan, M. M. (2007). Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Suicidal Adolescents. Guilford Press.
- Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT Skills Training Manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
