Linehan developed dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) – a variation of traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with elements of acceptance and mindfulness, as a result of her own mental illness. In 1967, while she prayed in a small Catholic chapel in Chicago. She said: One night I was kneeling in there, looking up at the cross, and the whole place became gold – and suddenly I felt something coming toward me ... It was this shimmering experience, and I just ran back to my room and said, 'I love myself.' It was the first time I remembered talking to myself in the first person. I felt transformed.