Articles about DBT
13 free articles, newest first. Every one is a few minutes long, written in plain language, and open to everyone with no account.
Making Yourself a Box of Things That Help
In a bad hour you cannot think of a single thing that helps. So decide while you are calm and put the answers in a box your worst hour can find, built around your senses.
After You Ate More Than You Meant To
The eating is over and the hard part has started: the self-attack and the plan to make up for it.
The Message You Are About to Send
It is written, it is accurate, and some part of you knows it will cost you. How to put a gap between the feeling and the send button, and what to do with the message…
Being Kind to Yourself Without Lying to Yourself
Positive affirmations feel false and self-criticism feels true. A middle option: saying the accurate thing about how you feel, which works better than either.
Doing What Works Instead of Being Right
You are correct, and the conversation is going nowhere. A skill for the moments when insisting on the principle costs you the thing you actually wanted.
Angry at Someone You Cannot Confront
The person has died, moved away, holds all the power, or would only deny it. What to do with real anger when the conversation that would settle it is not available.
Asking for Something Clearly
Hinting, over-explaining and hoping they offer all fail. A plain structure for asking someone for what you want, and what to do with the answer.
Cooling Down When a Feeling Peaks
At the top of a wave of panic or rage, nothing you think helps. A few physical moves change your body fast enough to get you back to being able to choose.
Accepting Something You Cannot Change
Acceptance is not approval, and it is not giving up. What it means to stop fighting a fact you cannot alter, and why refusing usually costs more than the fact itself.
Doing the Opposite of What the Feeling Tells You
Sadness says stay in bed, fear says avoid, shame says hide. When the urge does not fit the situation, acting against it changes the feeling faster than arguing with it.
When an Urge Feels Impossible to Sit With
You want to send the message, open the bottle, quit on the spot, or do the thing you will regret. What to do in the twenty minutes when the pull is at its strongest.
How to Hold Two Opposite Feelings at Once
You love them and you are furious. You want to go and you want to stay. The mind insists you pick one. What changes when you stop, and how to practice holding both.
How to Wait Out an Urge
The urge to send the text, pour the drink, pick the fight, or check the app feels like it will not stop until you give in. It will.