Learning new skills is critical in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and is a focus of every individual therapy session, skills group, and phone coaching session.

In DBT, you will develop four important skills: mindfulness, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance.

Mindfulness: Mindfulness is a core principle of Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Being mindful helps you control your focus so you can stop worrying about the future or obsessing about the past.

Through the DBT skill of mindfulness, you will learn to recognize and release your thoughts by feeling the “present moment” so that you can learn more about what makes you feel good or feel bad. As you release your thoughts, you focus on skills like observing your environment within yourself or outside of yourself.

If you choose to develop the skill of mindfulness through meditation, you will learn to focus your mind and increase your attentiveness through a frequent meditation practice.

In developing your mindfulness skills, you will learn to describe what you observe without judgment, and without labeling thoughts. Instead, you will simply experience being present and connecting with your sense of self.

Emotion Regulation: Emotion regulation means that you understand what your emotions are, how they function in your life, and how to experience those emotions in a way that is not overwhelming.

One practice you might work to develop is to “commit to your opposite action,” by realizing that every emotion has an action, and by choosing the opposite action (to go to a party, for instance, when you normally feel nervous about meeting new people and would opt to stay home). Practicing this skill helps you see that emotions can be managed.

Interpersonal Effectiveness: This DBT skill involves starting new relationships, improving existing relationships, or ending bad relationships.

To develop this skill, you may work on smaller steps like describing a situation, expressing yourself, stating your position clearly, reinforcing your position, and staying mindful. Over time, you will feel your relationships and interactions with others improve as you either change something or resist changes someone is trying to impose on you.

Distress Tolerance: The goal with this DBT skill is to tolerate emotional pain without resorting to self-harm or self-destructive behaviors.

According to Dr. Marsha Linehan, the founder of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, the ability to tolerate and accept distress is an essential mental health goal because pain and distress are a part of life. Moreover, distress tolerance is part of any attempt to change oneself.

When you begin DBT, you will learn techniques for distress tolerance, such as distraction (through activities, sensations, or thoughts), self-soothing, and other methods, such as prayer or relaxation.

A true Dialectical Behavior Therapy program will incorporate these four DBT skills throughout treatment to help you change with acceptance to live a life worth living.