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DBT Emotion Regulation Skills: An Overview

  • Writer: Kathy Morelli
    Kathy Morelli
  • Mar 25, 2019
  • 3 min read

Updated: Jan 25



DBT Emotion Regulation in DBT: An Overview
DBT Emotion Regulation in DBT: An Overview

What is Emotion Regulation in DBT?


DBT's Emotion Regulation skills enable individuals to create a foundation of positive experiences. Over time, with daily practice, these positive experiences help stabilize their emotions.


Emotion regulation is not about feeling bad that you have strong emotions. It’s about recognizing the strong emotions, accepting yourself and learning how to live with storng feelings more skillfully.


DBT emotion regulation skills are one part of an integrative mental health approach that brings together evidence-based psychotherapy, trauma-informed care, nervous system regulation, and mind–body practices.


The goals of DBT Emotion Regulation are:


  • increase your ability to stay emotionally in the present moment

  • increase your flexibility in thinking about emotional responses

  • increase your capacity to tolerate emotions

  • increase your capacity to tolerate the physical sensations accompanying emotions

  • reduce your avoidance and maladaptive behaviors due to strong emotional responses

  • practice titrated emotion-focused exposure techniques.




Mindfulness Everyday is a Key Foundational Skill for DBT Emotion Regulation Skills
Mindfulness Everyday is a Key Foundational Skill for DBT Emotion Regulation Skills

DBT Emotion Regulation Base Skill: Mindfulness Everyday


The foundation for Emotional Regulation is the use of your Mindfulness skills. Mindfulness about your emotions asks you to engage with the experience of your emotions in an observational manner. Slowing down, non-judgmentally observing emotional experiences helps you learn to separate them out and name them.


In addition, using non-judgmental observation of your emotions is important as this can reduce the pain of secondary distress. Often, along with the primary strong emotion, there is a flood of intense secondary emotions: shame, anxiety, guilt, and rage.


The primary emotion or emotions are adaptive and arise in context to a current situation. The secondary emotion or emotions are habitual feelings that come up about past situations and/or self-inflicted feelings of shame and guilt about having strong emotions.

Be patient with yourself!


Be patient ...it takes time to learn a new emotional skill-set


Trauma can instill emotional and behavioral patterns that have effectively protected and supported you throughout your life. These defense mechanisms have been beneficial for a time. Therefore, give yourself the opportunity to reflect on the fundamental principles of Emotional Regulation and treat yourself with kindness.


DBT Emotion Regulation Principles


  • Learn to slow down, observe, not judge,


  • Learn to tolerate the emotional and physical sensations of strong emotion


  • Learn to separate out the tangled web of emotion


  • Learn to name the separated out emotions

How long does it take to learn DBT Emotion Regulation Skills?


These are big skills and it takes time to reduce vulnerability to strong emotions, but it can be done, with support, practice, conscious self-care and self-love.


If you take a formal DBT curriculum, you are expected to commit to a six month curriculum. You learn new skills every week and you are expected to practice the skills and complete weekly homework. Because of the depth and complexity of the materials, the authors of the DBT curriculum recommend that you go through it twice!


Emotion regulation is not about eliminating feelings — it’s about learning how to live with them more skillfully.






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