DBT Blog: Real Life Coping Skills

Learning How the Emotion of Shame Manifests Itself A common topic I have been having in DBT group with pretty much ALL my groups is the emotion of shame. As my clients grow in emotional health, they get better at labeling their emotions and thoughts. It is much more frequent to and easier to label more common emotions such as: depression, anger, anxiety, and fear. However, shame is more complicated. It's not an emotion people are used to to talking about. But it is of

A New Way to Cope with Anger It is common that clients will seek out DBT to get help in anger management. Currently, I have one DBT Skills Group where a majority of the group members are wanting to work on this. One popular coping skill I have been talking about to help with this and decrease the tendency to have anger outbursts is the Opposite Action to Anger. Opposite Action is the Emotion Regulation skill we use when we need to act opposite to our current emotions be

How to Be Skillful in Dealing with Negative Thoughts I recently asked the members of one of my DBT Skills groups to introduce themselves to a new client who was starting group that day by sharing their name and the favorite skill they had learned so far. Quite a few of them said the Check the Facts Skill. I can see why. Many people want help regulating their anger, anxiety, shame, and/or depression. And in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (which is incorporated into DBT), w

This is the coping skill that I always tell my clients: " We should have talked about how you were doing in this on your first week of group." This specific skill under the Emotion Regulation module is called the PLEASE skills which is an acronym for: treating physical illness, balance eating, stay away from drugs and alcohol, get balanced sleep, and exercise regularly. The reason I wish this skill was talked about on Day 1 of DBT Skills Group for my clients is because

The skill I have noticed myself repeating a lot in my sessions this past month when clients gets stuck working through their issues is...

A common topic that a majority of my DBT clients will talk about in DBT Skills group is how to improve relationships. In the...

This month a DBT skill that I have been coaching my clients in consistently is the Ride the Wave of Emotions skill. This Emotion...

DBT is skill-based treatment. Unlike traditional talk therapy, DBT therapists will give coaching on how to cope with emotions,...