In treatment, the most common diagnoses for sex offenders are paraphilias, personality disorders, and substance use disorders (Jackson & Richards, 2007). Becker, Stinson, Tromp, and Messer (2003) estimate that as many as 80% of sex offenders meet the criteria for a diagnosable personality disorder.
There has been very little evaluation of the use of dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) with sex offenders, but some researchers and practitioners are beginning to promote the inclusion of DBT elements into standard cognitive behavioral sex offender treatment and at least one high-volume sexual offender treatment program has switched to DBT as its primary treatment modality (Servos, 2008). This paper will review the literature on adapting DBT into a sex offender treatment, evaluate the evidence for DBT’s effectiveness with this population, and further reflect on the utility of DBT in sex offender