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Specific Goals 
of DBT
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Behaviors to Decrease
  • Interpersonal chaos
  • Unstable Emotions
  • Impulsiveness
  • Confusion about self and dysregulation of thoughts

Mindfulness

The purpose of Mindfulness is to increase awareness of thoughts, feelings, sensations and surroundings in the moment in order to be able to interrupt negative patterns

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  • Just do one thing at a time

  • Let go of distraction

  • Come back to the moment (and what you are doing)

  • Do each thing with all your attention

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Non-Judgmental
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Adopt a neutral or curious attitude rather than judging

ONE MIND

One thing at a time

Now, be in the here and now

Environment, grounded in it

Moment, be present in this one moment

Increase senses to be firmly in the here and   now

Non-judgmental of self and others

Describe things in concrete, specific terms

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This acronym helps stay present in the moment

Participate

ONE MINDFULLY

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DO ONE THING AT A TIME

  • When walking, walk

  • When working, work

  • Focus your attention on the very moment you are in

LETTING GO OF DISTRACTIONS

  • Go back to what you were doing--again and again

CONCENTRATE YOUR MIND

  • If you find yourself doing two things at once, stop and go back to one thing at a time

Observe

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Just Notice!

MINDFULNESS

Put words on the experience

Say in your mind

"My stomach muscles are tightening"

"Sadness has enveloped me"

"A thought 'I can't do this' has come into my mind"

Put experiences into words

Describe what is happening to yourself

Put a name on your feelings

Call a thought just a thought, a feeling just a feeling

Don't get caught in the content

Specific Goals
of DBT
​
Behaviors to Increase
  • Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills
  • Emotion Regulation Skills
  • Distress Tolerance Skills
  • Core Mindfulness Skills
WISEMIND
Reasonable Mind
Emotion Mind
Wise Mind

Mindfulness

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See but  DON'T EVALUATE. Take a non-judgmental stance. Just the facts

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ACCEPT each moment

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ACKNOWLEDGE the helpful, wholesome, but don't judge it, ACKNOWLEDGE the harmful, the unwholesome, but don't judge it

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AVOID "good/bad" and "should/should not"

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When you find yourself judging, STOP JUDGING YOUR JUDGING.

BODY SCAN
Focus on your body. Go inside yourself. Just notice...
  • Notice any pain or discomfort, tension
  • Don't do anything about it, just notice it
  • Notice relaxation, comfort and feeling at ease
  • Become aware of any neutral sensations
  • Take a moment to be with yourself on the inside
  • Now become aware of yourself on the outside
  • Notice your feet on the ground
  • Become aware of your environment with all 5 senses
  • Notice sounds, temperature, smell

MINDFULNESS

Enter into your experiences. BECOME ONE WITH YOUR EXPERIENCE, COMPLETELY FORGETTING YOURSELF

ACT INTUITIVELY from the wise mind. Do just what is needed in each situation -- neither willful nor sitting on your hands.

Actively PRACTICE your skills until they become part of you 

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

  1.   Changing harmful situations 

  2. Changing your harmful reactions to the situations

  3. Accepting yourself and the situation as they are

Effectively

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FOCUS ON WHAT WORKS

MINDFULNESS

Just notice the experience without judgment

Be like the guard at the palace gate, ALERT to every thought, feeling and action that comes through the gate of your mind

Have a "TEFLON MIND"

Letting experiences, feelings and thoughts come into your mind and slip right out

PUSH away nothing, CLING to nothing

Step inside yourself and observe

WATCH your thoughts coming and going like clouds in the sky

NOTICE each feeling, rising and falling, like waves in the ocean

Notice your SENSES -- what you hear, smell, see and how your body feels

Moment to Pause

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Take a quick moment to check in with yourself

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  • internally, how are you feeling?

  • check the environment, what is going on?

  • check your interactions with others

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A moment to pause can help you stop a destructive behavior and replace it with a skill

MINDFULNESS

Wisemind

Integration of "emotion mind" (or "feeling mind") and "reasonable mind" (or "thinking mind")

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Allows intuition

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Find it in the belly, the center of your head or by following your breath

Mindful Eating
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Be fully present in the ritual of eating. Experience the complexity and richness of eating. Focus just on eating. Use senses to appreciate food. Notice fullness. Chew each bite slowly.

Turtling

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Like a turtle, there are many ways to protect ourselves when we are under stress that can help.

  • Retreating inside yourself and then emerging when it is safe

  • Going slowly and methodically, being thoughtful about how to invest time, energy and attention

  • Use your hard outer shell to let things roll of your back

  • Be persistently self-righting: when turtles get turned over, they use their weight and environment to right themselves and get back in balance. Use your skills, other people, your daily structure, etc., to get back in balance

  • Being adaptive; turtles can live in water or on land. Remember that you have many adaptive skills to weather life's storm

One-Mindfully

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Stay in the Moment

MINDFULNESS

Focus on what works.

Do just what needs to be done in each situation.

Stay away from:

"Fair" and "Unfair", "Right" or "Wrong", "Should" or "Should Not"

Play by the rules- Don't cut off your nose to spite your face. 

Act as skillfully as you can.

Meet the needs of the situation you are in, not the situation you wish you were in

Keep an eye on your objectives

LET GO of vengeance, useless anger, and righteousness that hurts you and doesn't work

Describe

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Putting words on your experience that are descriptive and accurate rather than exaggerated

Square Breathing

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Use this method to take a moment to pause

  • Breathe in while counting to 4​

  • Hold it for 4 seconds

  • Then exhale while counting to 4

  • Repeat 4 times

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