Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a psychotherapy that focuses on teaching you how to cope with and regulate your emotions in a new way. It is designed to help reduce the intensity of difficult emotions, and it was specifically created for people who have borderline personality disorder. However, DBT has been widely adopted for a variety of mental health conditions and is regularly used by people with other disorders as well.
In DBT, you are taught skills to help your emotional regulation, create a life worth living, improve your relationships, and manage distress in healthy ways.
You’ll learn four sets of skills: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. In this workbook, we will discuss all four sets of skills and give examples of how they can be practiced.
Throughout the workbook, you’ll find a variety of worksheets to complete. The sections with worksheets should be done after you’ve read the corresponding section in the book. These worksheets are meant to guide your thoughts and help you put into practice what you’re learning about DBT.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It was originally developed to treat borderline personality disorder, but in recent years it has also been used to treat other disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and eating disorders. DBT can help you learn how to manage your emotions, deal with distress, and improve the way you relate to others.
The skills you will learn in this workbook are based on the four modules of DBT: Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance. The skills we will cover are divided into two categories—core mindfulness skills and coping skills. Core mindfulness skills are the backbone of DBT. They teach you how to be aware of yourself and your environment in effective ways so that you can begin to make healthy changes in your life. Coping skills are tools that will help you put what you have learned about mindfulness into action by teaching you how to deal with painful thoughts and emotions without turning to unhealthy behaviors.
The purpose of this workbook is to help you apply Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) skills to your life. DBT has been shown to help people with a variety of problems, including borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance abuse.
This workbook provides various DBT skills that can be useful for managing painful emotions and improving relationships. It also provides the opportunity for you to track your progress as you practice the skills. You can use it on your own or with a group or therapist who is helping you to learn DBT skills. As you use the workbook, think about how you would like to make changes in your life. Make a goal for yourself for each skill. Then practice the skill and record your progress in the workbook.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a treatment that was initially developed to treat people with borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD is a highly stigmatized disorder, and many people with BPD seek therapy only when they’re in crisis. DBT was created to help these clients learn how to cope with their emotions, especially when they’re in distress. Since its inception, DBT has been adapted for use in treating other conditions that involve problematic emotional responses. These include eating disorders, substance abuse disorders, mood disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The first step in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is recognizing your emotions. On the following pages, you will find a list of feelings. Next to each one, write down an action or event that may trigger that emotion. You can write anything that comes to mind, or even draw an image if you feel like it would help!
As you go through your day, pay attention to how your emotions impact your actions and interactions. When applicable and possible, try to anticipate emotional triggers in advance and plan out how you might be able to respond in a positive way—and keep going strong.
Every day, take some time to review what you’ve written and reflect on what you’ve learned. Use this workbook as a tool for improving your emotional awareness and working toward the goals you set for yourself in therapy.