DBT Skills Worksheet

DBT Skills Worksheet

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills for Emotional Regulation, Distress Tolerance, Mindfulness, and Interpersonal Effectiveness

This worksheet is designed for educational purposes only.

Mindfulness Skills

Mindfulness is the foundation of all DBT skills. It involves being fully present and aware of your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings without judgment.

Wise Mind

Wise Mind is the integration of your rational mind and emotional mind. It's the place where logic and feelings meet to guide your decisions.

Current situation I need wisdom about:

What my Rational Mind says:

What my Emotional Mind says:

What my Wise Mind says:

Observe, Describe, Participate

These are the "What" skills of mindfulness - what you do when practicing mindfulness.

Mindfulness Practice Session:

Date: Time: Duration:

Observe: What did you notice with your five senses?

Describe: Put words to your experience without judgment.

Participate: How did you throw yourself fully into the present moment?

Non-judgmentally, One-mindfully, Effectively

These are the "How" skills of mindfulness - how you practice mindfulness.

Practice Reflection:

Non-judgmentally: What judgments did you notice yourself making?

One-mindfully: How well did you focus on one thing at a time?

Effectively: How did you focus on what works rather than what's right or fair?

Distress Tolerance Skills

These skills help you survive crisis situations without making them worse through impulsive actions.

TIPP for Crisis Survival

TIPP skills help change your body chemistry quickly to reduce intense emotions.

Crisis situation:

Emotion intensity before TIPP (0-10):

T - Temperature: How did you use cold to shock your system?

I - Intense Exercise: What intense physical activity did you do?

P - Paced Breathing: How did you slow your breathing?

P - Paired Muscle Relaxation: How did you tense and release muscles?

Emotion intensity after TIPP (0-10):

ACCEPTS for Distraction

ACCEPTS skills help you distract yourself from painful emotions until you can cope more effectively.

Situation requiring distraction:

Which ACCEPTS skills did you use and how?

How effective was this distraction (0-10)?

Radical Acceptance

Radical acceptance means completely accepting reality as it is, without fighting against it or trying to change what cannot be changed.

Situation I need to radically accept:

What I'm fighting against:

The facts I need to accept:

How fighting reality is hurting me:

What becomes possible when I accept:

Emotion Regulation Skills

These skills help you understand, experience, and manage emotions in healthy ways.

Emotion Identification

The first step in regulating emotions is accurately identifying what you're feeling.

Current emotion:

Intensity level (0-10):

What triggered this emotion?

Physical sensations:

Action urges:

PLEASE Skills for Emotional Vulnerability

PLEASE skills reduce emotional vulnerability by taking care of your basic physical and mental health needs.

Rate how well you're doing with each area (1-5 scale):

Physical illness - Treating illness and injury:
Life balance - Balancing eating (not too much or too little):
Emotions - Avoiding mood-altering substances:
Assured - Balancing sleep (7-9 hours):
Strength - Getting exercise:
Equilibrium - Building mastery in activities:

Priority areas for improvement:

Opposite Action

When emotions don't fit the facts or are too intense, acting opposite to your emotion's action urge can help regulate the emotion.

Emotion to regulate:

Action urge from this emotion:

Is this emotion justified by the facts? (Check fit)

Opposite action I can take:

How I'll do opposite action all the way:

Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills

These skills help you communicate effectively, maintain relationships, and keep your self-respect in interactions with others.

DEAR MAN for Getting What You Want

DEAR MAN helps you make effective requests and set boundaries while maintaining relationships.

Situation requiring a request or boundary:

Person involved:

Describe: The facts of the situation

Express: Your feelings and opinions

Assert: What you want clearly

Reinforce: Explain the benefits

Mindful: Stay focused on your goal

Appear confident: Use confident body language and tone

Negotiate: Be willing to compromise

Practice your DEAR MAN script:

GIVE for Maintaining Relationships

GIVE skills help you maintain positive relationships while still getting your needs met.

Gentle: How will you be respectful and kind?

Interested: How will you show genuine interest in their perspective?

Validate: How will you acknowledge their feelings?

Easy manner: How will you be light-hearted when appropriate?

FAST for Self-Respect

FAST skills help you maintain your self-respect and integrity in interpersonal situations.

Fair: How will you be fair to yourself and others?

Apologies: When will you avoid unnecessary apologies?

Stick to values: How will you stay true to your beliefs?

Truthful: How will you be honest while staying kind?

Interpersonal Effectiveness Practice Reflection:

How did the interaction go?

Rate your success in each area (1-5):

Getting what you wanted (DEAR MAN):
Maintaining the relationship (GIVE):
Keeping your self-respect (FAST):

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