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In this post, we will highlight 11 DBT worksheets that can help you deliver dialectical behavioral therapy more effectively to your clients.
What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, is a specialized form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The main goal of DBT is to teach people how to stay in the present, cope with stress in a healthy way, process emotions, and to improve relationships in their lives.
According to the National Institute of Health, DBT “has many similarities with other cognitive-behavioral approaches, several critical and unique elements must be in place for the treatment to constitute DBT. Some of these elements include (a) serving the five functions of treatment, (b) the biosocial theory and focusing on emotions in treatment, (c) a consistent dialectical philosophy, and (d) mindfulness and acceptance-oriented interventions.”
Some of the more popular DBT techniques include:
Mindfulness
One major benefit of DBT is a client’s development of being present in the moment, or mindfulness. Mindfulness helps clients notice their thoughts, feelings, sensations, and impulses in the moment, and helps their mind to not wander off to the past or future. Mindfulness has major benefits in a client’s well-being and is a key tool in both CBT and DBT.
Distress Tolerance
Distress tolerance is another DBT technique that helps a client accept themselves and their current situation as it is. Distress tolerance techniques include: Distraction, Improving the moment, Soothing oneself, and evaluating the pros and cons of not tolerating stress. This tool can help your clients learn to cope and prepare for strong emotions while having a more positive long-term outlook on life.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Interpersonal Effectiveness is another great technique used in DBT. It will help your clients express their needs relationally and become more assertive to have more positive and healthy relationships.
Emotional Regulation
The final DBT technique on our list is emotional regulation, which will help your clients traverse strong feelings in a more healthy way. Clients often struggle identifying their specific emotions, and emotional regulation can help them do just that. In addition, emotional regulation can help your clients change their emotions after they’ve been identified.
How Does DBT Help Clients?
Originally, DBT was created to create Borderline Personality Disorder, but has been adapted by many mental health professionals to treat a variety of conditions such as:
- ADHD
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Bipolar Disorder
- Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Binge-Eating Disorder
- Self-Harm
- Addiction
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Mood Disorders
- Substance Use Disorder
- Self-Injury
- Suicidal Behavior
Let’s review 11 DBT worksheets that can help your clients:
1. ABC Model for REBT Worksheet
Rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT)—a form of CBT—uses the ABC model to explain the interaction between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Events are neither negative nor positive. Your beliefs about a certain situation matter and can influence you. When you see a situation as negative, you will have negative thoughts that can harm you.
Our ABC Model for REBT Worksheet will help your clients challenge their negative beliefs and create new consequences.
2. ABC Please Worksheet
In Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), the PLEASE skill was created to help you regulate your emotions by helping you care of your basic needs so that you can make healthier decisions and be less vulnerable to emotional disruptions.
Our ABC Please Worksheet will help your clients regulate their emotions by helping them care for their basic needs.
3. Coping Skills Worksheet
Coping skills are tools we can use when we are feeling intense feelings, typically negative ones. When you’re feeling strong emotions such as anger, anxiety, depression, or stress, coping strategies can help.
Our Coping Skills Worksheet Bundle can help your clients find coping skills that work for them, and help them track them throughout their day/week.
4. Challenging Negative Thoughts Worksheet
Irrational thoughts or beliefs can pop into our head at any time. They can take hold and cause us long-term pain.
Challenging negative thoughts can help your clients learn emotional regulation. Our Challenging Negative Thoughts Worksheet and Challenging Negative Thoughts Questionnaire will help your clients replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
5. Stress Management Worksheet
Stress can be a major cause of problems if it’s not dealt with properly. There are a wide variety of stress management techniques and psychotherapies aimed at lowering a person’s stress.
Our Stress Management Worksheets will help your clients identify stressful situations, symptoms of stress, distinguishing between internal and external stressors, and exploring ways to relieve stress.
6. DBT Problem Solving Worksheet
Problem solving is an essential skill to collect facts and turn them into steps to solve problems which we can change.
Our Problem Solving Worksheet will help your clients organize information, see their problems from new angles, and identify the
most important issues they face.
7. DBT Wise Mind Worksheet
Our minds have 3 states: The reasonable mind, the emotional mind, and the wise mind. While everyone possesses each of these states, we tend to gravitate towards a specific state most of the time.
Our DBT Wise Mind Worksheet will help your clients identify objective facts in the challenge they are facing while helping them discover their feelings to the challenge they face. Finally, your clients will find balance between the reasonable mind and the emotional mind, (also known as the Wise Mind)
8. Radical Acceptance Worksheet
We can’t control every problem we encounter, sometimes things are simply out of our control. Often, we hurt ourselves even more by saying things like “this shouldn’t be happening to me.” Radical Acceptance is a healthier way of thinking that focuses on accepting the problem and situation as it is.
Our Radical Acceptance Worksheet will help your clients learn radical acceptance that can help them lower anxiety, anger, and sadness for situations that are out of their control.
9. DBT Check the Facts Worksheet
Many of our emotions and how we respond to situations are triggered by how we perceive events, not the actual events themselves. Check the Facts is a DBT skill that can help you change your emotional response and make better, healthier decisions.
Our DBT Check the Facts Worksheet will help your clients organize their emotions to make decisions that will improve their well-being.
10. DBT Opposite Action Worksheet
Practicing using the opposite actions in a situation where your emotions do not fit the facts can make a big difference in how you respond to situations in your future.
Our DBT Opposite Action Worksheet will allow you to create situations that they can practice creating an opposite action for.
11. DEARMAN Assertive Communication Worksheet
DEARMAN is a skill focused on in the Interpersonal Effectiveness portion of DBT and is a skill for asking something of another person. You can use it to resolve a conflict or make a request in a respectful and effective way that maintains a relationship.
Our DEARMAN Assertive Communications Worksheet will help your clients speak up and resolve relational problems in a respectful and effective way.
Conclusion on DBT Worksheets for your Practice
DBT Worksheets are a great way to help your clients using the powerful and proven DBT treatment method. Our worksheets are built to help mental health professionals streamline their practices by allowing you to collect information from your clients in an organize, safe way. If you need more worksheets, you can browse our library of private practice templates.
Want all of the above worksheets? Download our DBT worksheets bundle below:
TherapyByPro is an online mental health directory that connects mental health pros with clients in need. If you’re a mental health professional, you can Join our community and add your practice listing here. We have assessments, practice forms, and worksheet templates mental health professionals can use to streamline their practice. View all of our mental health forms, worksheet, and assessments here.
Author: Anthony Bart
Anthony Bart is a huge mental health advocate. He has primarily positioned his marketing expertise to work with mental health professionals so that they can help as many patients as possible. He is currently the owner of BartX, TherapistX, and TherapyByPro.
