Most talking therapies were originally designed with emotional dysregulation in mind, helping people who feel too much, too intensely, or too unpredictably. Radically Open Dialectical Behaviour Therapy was built for the opposite pattern. Overcontrol, meaning excessive self-control, rigid rule-following and difficulty opening up to others, sits at the centre of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder.
A 2025 study examined data from a large randomised controlled trial of 250 participants, originally testing RO-DBT for treatment-resistant depression, and looked specifically at the subset who also had OCPD. The findings were encouraging. RO-DBT was linked to meaningful improvements in emotional approach coping, meaning actually engaging with difficult emotions rather than avoiding them, and to reduced psychological inflexibility. Having OCPD did not blunt those benefits. Participants with OCPD responded about as well as everyone else.
That is a useful result, because OCPD has historically been regarded as something that interferes with good therapy outcomes. RO-DBT was designed with this rigid, over-controlled pattern in view, which is part of why it is increasingly considered among the more promising options for OCPD specifically.
If this pattern sounds familiar, it is worth asking a psychologist whether RO-DBT-informed approaches might suit you.