Extreme emotional vulnerability is rarely the sole cause of psychological problems. An invalidating environment is also a major contributing factor. What is an invalidating environment? The “environment,” in this case, is usually other people. “Invalidating” refers to a failure to treat a person in a manner that conveys attention, respect, and understanding. Examples of an invalidating environment can range from mismatched personalities of children and parents (e.g., a shy child growing up in a family of extraverts who tease her about her shyness); to extremes of physical or emotional abuse. In DBT, we think that borderline personality disorder arises from the transaction between emotional vulnerability and the invalidating environment.