The Ultimate DBT Dictionary

The Language of DBT

Acceptance: Acknowledging and embracing reality as it is, without trying to change it or wishing it were different. This involves recognizing situations, emotions, and thoughts as they are and accepting them without judgment or resistance.

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Accumulate Positive Emotions: Engaging in activities and experiences that bring joy, pleasure, and satisfaction. This skill involves planning and participating in enjoyable activities regularly to build up a reserve of positive emotions that can help counterbalance negative feelings.

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Anger Management: Techniques and strategies used to control and reduce feelings of anger. This can include deep breathing, cognitive restructuring, and problem-solving to handle situations more calmly.

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Anxiety: A common mental health condition characterized by excessive fear, worry, and nervousness. DBT skills can help manage and reduce anxiety symptoms.

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Awareness: The practice of paying attention to the present moment with full consciousness. It involves observing thoughts, feelings, sensations, and surroundings without judgment and with a sense of openness and curiosity.

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Behavior Chain Analysis: A method used to break down a problematic behavior into its component parts to understand the sequence of events, thoughts, feelings, and actions that led to it. This analysis helps identify triggers and patterns, making it easier to change the behavior in the future.

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Behavioral Activation: A technique used to combat depression by encouraging engagement in activities that align with personal values and can improve mood.

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Bio-Social Theory: The foundational theory of DBT which suggests that emotional dysregulation is a result of biological predispositions and an invalidating environment.

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Building Mastery: Engaging in activities that build a sense of accomplishment and competence to enhance overall well-being.

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Check the Facts: A strategy for analyzing a situation to determine if emotional responses are based on facts or assumptions. This involves evaluating the evidence for and against a particular belief or interpretation to ensure that responses are grounded in reality.

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Cognitive Anchoring: A technique to stay grounded in reality by focusing on concrete facts or tasks. It helps counteract distorted thinking and emotional overwhelm.

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Cognitive Distortions: Inaccurate or biased ways of thinking that reinforce negative emotions and behaviors. Examples include all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralization, and catastrophizing. Recognizing and challenging these distortions can help improve emotional regulation.

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Cope Ahead: A skill for preparing for challenging situations by anticipating potential difficulties and rehearsing how to handle them effectively. This involves visualizing successful coping and planning specific actions and responses in advance.

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Coping Mechanisms: Strategies and techniques used to manage stress, anxiety, and other difficult emotions. Effective coping mechanisms can include problem-solving, seeking support, engaging in relaxation exercises, and practicing self-care.

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Crisis Survival Skills: Techniques designed to help individuals manage intense emotions and urges without making the situation worse. These skills include distraction, self-soothing, and reality acceptance to endure distress until it passes.

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Depression: A common mental health condition characterized by persistent sadness, loss of 

interest, and other symptoms that interfere with daily functioning. DBT skills can help manage and alleviate symptoms of depression.

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Dialectics: The concept of holding two seemingly opposite ideas as both true simultaneously. In DBT, this means accepting reality as it is while also working towards change. It emphasizes balance and the synthesis of opposing viewpoints.

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Distress Tolerance: Skills and techniques for surviving and enduring painful or distressing situations without resorting to harmful behaviors. This includes methods such as distraction, self-soothing, and radical acceptance.

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Distress Tolerance Skills: A set of strategies specifically designed to help individuals cope with immediate emotional pain or distress. These skills aim to provide temporary relief and prevent impulsive actions that might worsen the situation.

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Emotion Mind: A state of mind in which emotions dominate thinking and behavior, often leading to impulsive and irrational actions. It contrasts with reasonable mind, which is more logical and analytical.

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Emotion Regulation: Strategies and skills to manage and modify intense emotions. This includes understanding and naming emotions, reducing vulnerability to emotional distress, and using specific techniques to change emotional responses.

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Emotion Regulation Skills: Techniques specifically aimed at understanding and controlling emotional responses, including identifying emotions, reducing emotional vulnerability, and changing emotional responses.

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Emotional Vulnerability: The heightened sensitivity to emotional stimuli, which can make individuals more prone to intense emotional reactions. Factors contributing to emotional vulnerability include lack of sleep, poor nutrition, and stress.

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Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. It involves recognizing and validating others' emotions, fostering connection, and providing support.

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Expressive Writing: The practice of writing about emotions, experiences, and thoughts to process and understand them better. This technique can help individuals clarify their feelings, gain insight, and reduce emotional distress.

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Exposure Therapy: A technique used to reduce fear and anxiety responses by gradually exposing individuals to the feared object or context without any danger.

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FAST: An acronym for Fair, Apologies (no), Stick to values, and Truthful. It is a skill used to maintain self-respect and assertiveness in relationships by ensuring that interactions are fair, avoiding unnecessary apologies, adhering to personal values, and being truthful.

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Frequency Illusion: The tendency to notice something more often after learning about it. This can influence perception and awareness, highlighting the importance of mindfulness in recognizing cognitive biases.

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Functional Analysis: Assessing the functions or purposes that a behavior serves for an individual to better understand and address it.

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Gratitude Practice: Regularly focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life to improve overall emotional health.

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Grounding Techniques: Methods used to bring attention back to the present moment, often used in distress tolerance. These techniques can include focusing on physical sensations, describing the environment, or engaging in mindful breathing.

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Half-Smile: A relaxation technique involving slightly smiling to help calm the mind and body. This simple gesture can signal the brain to relax and reduce stress, promoting a sense of peace and well-being.

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Impulsivity: The tendency to act quickly without thinking about the consequences. DBT skills can help manage impulsivity by promoting mindfulness and deliberate decision-making.

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Interpersonal Effectiveness: Skills to communicate needs, set boundaries, and maintain healthy relationships. These skills include assertiveness, active listening, and negotiating to ensure that interactions are respectful and effective.

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Interpersonal Relationships: The connections and interactions individuals have with others, including family, friends, colleagues, and romantic partners. Healthy interpersonal relationships are characterized by mutual respect, effective communication, and emotional support.

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Judgmentalness: The tendency to make negative evaluations or judgments about oneself or others. This can lead to increased stress and conflict. Reducing judgmentalness involves practicing acceptance and understanding.

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Life Worth Living Goals: Personal aspirations and values that give life meaning and purpose. Identifying and working towards these goals can enhance motivation and well-being.

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Loving-Kindness Meditation: A practice of directing positive feelings and well-wishes towards oneself and others. This meditation aims to cultivate compassion, empathy, and emotional warmth.

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Maladaptive Behavior: Actions or tendencies that are counterproductive or harmful in the long term. Identifying and changing these behaviors is a focus of DBT.

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Meditation: A practice of focused attention and mindfulness to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. Different forms of meditation, such as mindfulness and loving-kindness, are used in DBT to enhance awareness and emotional regulation.

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Mindful Eating: Paying full attention to the experience of eating and drinking, both inside and outside the body.

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Mindfulness: The practice of being fully present and engaged in the current moment. It involves observing thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment and with a sense of acceptance and curiosity.

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Mindfulness Practices: Exercises designed to increase awareness and presence in the moment. These practices can include mindful breathing, body scan meditation, and mindful walking, all aimed at enhancing focus and reducing stress.

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Observe: The act of noticing what is happening without trying to change it. This involves being aware of thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they occur, fostering a non-judgmental awareness of the present moment.

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One-Mindfully: Focusing on one thing at a time with full attention. This practice helps improve concentration and reduce the stress that comes from multitasking and divided attention.

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Opposite Action: A technique for changing emotions by acting opposite to the emotion-driven impulse. For example, if feeling angry and wanting to withdraw, one might choose to engage in positive social interaction instead.

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Physiological Sigh: A deep breathing technique that involves taking a deep inhale followed by a second inhale before exhaling. This can help reduce stress and regulate emotions quickly.

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PLEASE: An acronym for Physical health, List of things to do, Eating healthy, Avoiding mood-altering substances, Sleep, and Exercise. These components are crucial for maintaining emotional well-being and reducing vulnerability to emotional distress.

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Problem Behavior/Target Behavior: Specific actions or patterns identified as problematic and targeted for change in DBT. These behaviors are addressed through skills training and behavior analysis.

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Pros and Cons: A method of evaluating the positive and negative aspects of a situation or decision. This helps in making informed and balanced choices by considering the potential benefits and drawbacks.

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Radical Acceptance: Fully accepting reality without resistance or judgment. This skill involves acknowledging the truth of a situation, even if it is painful or difficult, and letting go of the struggle against it.

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Reality Acceptance Skills: Techniques to accept life as it is, including radical acceptance, turning the mind, and willingness. These skills help individuals cope with situations that cannot be changed and reduce emotional suffering.

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Reality Testing: Evaluating the validity of thoughts and perceptions against objective evidence and reality.

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Reasonable Mind: The part of the mind that thinks logically and analytically. It balances emotion mind, which is driven by feelings and impulses.

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Recency Bias: The cognitive bias where recent events are given more significance than past events. Recognizing this bias can help in making more balanced and informed decisions.

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Reduce Vulnerability: Practices to decrease susceptibility to emotional distress. This includes maintaining physical health, engaging in regular self-care, and managing stress effectively.

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Rumination: The habit of repeatedly thinking about distressing situations or emotions. This can perpetuate negative feelings and interfere with problem-solving. DBT skills aim to reduce rumination by promoting mindfulness and cognitive restructuring.

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Self-Compassion: Treating oneself with the same kindness, concern, and support as one would treat a good friend in times of difficulty.

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Self-Soothing: Comforting oneself through the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell). This can include activities like listening to music, taking a warm bath, or enjoying a favorite food to calm and relax the mind and body.

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Skill Stacking: Combining multiple DBT skills to handle complex situations effectively. This might involve using mindfulness, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness skills together.

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SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound objectives. Setting SMART goals helps in creating clear and attainable action plans.

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Social Support: Seeking and utilizing relationships and networks that provide emotional and practical assistance.

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STOP Skill: An acronym for Stop, Take a step back, Observe, and Proceed mindfully. This skill helps prevent impulsive actions by creating a pause to reflect and choose a more effective response.

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Story of Emotion: The narrative or interpretation we give to our emotions. Understanding this story can help identify cognitive distortions and reframe thoughts to reduce emotional distress.

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Substance Abuse: The harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. DBT skills can help individuals manage urges and develop healthier coping strategies.

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TIPP: An acronym for Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, and Progressive relaxation. These techniques are used to manage intense emotions by changing the body's physiological response.

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Trigger: An external event or circumstance that elicits a strong emotional reaction. Identifying triggers is essential for managing responses and developing effective coping strategies.

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Turning the Mind: Choosing to accept reality and commit to effective behavior. This involves a deliberate decision to embrace acceptance and move forward, even when it is difficult.

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Urgency: The feeling of needing to act immediately, often driven by intense emotions. Recognizing and managing urgency can help prevent impulsive and potentially harmful actions.

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Validation: Acknowledging and accepting another person’s feelings, thoughts, and experiences as understandable and legitimate. Validation helps build trust and connection in relationships.

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Validation Strategies: Specific techniques used to communicate acceptance and understanding of another person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

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Values: Core beliefs and principles that guide behavior and decisions. Living in accordance with values can provide a sense of purpose and direction, enhancing overall well-being.

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Vulnerability Factors: Elements that increase sensitivity to emotional pain, such as lack of sleep, poor nutrition, and chronic stress. Identifying and addressing these factors can help improve emotional resilience.

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Wave Skill: Allowing emotions to rise and fall naturally without resistance. This involves observing emotions as they come and go, understanding that they are temporary and will pass.

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Willfulness: Stubbornly refusing to accept reality or change. This attitude can lead to increased suffering and resistance to effective solutions. Reducing willfulness involves practicing willingness and openness.

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Willingness: Being open to experience and reality as it is. This involves letting go of resistance and embracing a mindset of acceptance and adaptability.

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Wise Mind: The balanced part of thinking that integrates emotion and reason. Wise mind involves making decisions that honor both logical analysis and emotional insight.

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Zone of Proximal Development: The area of learning that is within reach but requires guidance. This concept emphasizes the importance of support and scaffolding in achieving new skills and knowledge.

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