dialectical

I go back to this idea that comes from dialectical behavioral therapy: Two things can be true.

The most thrilling moments in my years of teaching drama have come when in the dialectical heat of class discussion, a new way of understanding a scene or a character’s psychology emerges from conflicting perspectives.

He recently participated in a 10-week dialectical behavior therapy class, but he didn’t get the connection and support he received in past in-person group settings, he said.

An appreciation of the theater as a dialectical art form that puts perspectives into collision.

In my own life, I find myself thinking about the philosophy underpinning dialectical behavior therapy, an approach designed for the most challenging situations and intense emotions: learning to simultaneously wholeheartedly accept and change.