The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Card Deck: 52 Practices to Balance Your Emotions Every Day

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Schema Therapy Training Australia hosts a series of podcast episodes to discuss Schema Therapy with accredited therapists and Jeffrey Young (the creator of ST) himself. The tools, worksheets, and techniques within this article provide practical and pragmatic ways of working through Schema Therapy with a client with the ultimate goals of healing, growth, and restoring mental health and physical balance. Explained A Skill to Someone: Studying and practicing DBT skills works. However, learning is often enhanced and becomes more integrated into our own brains when we explain or teach something to someone else. To scratch off this DBT bingo square, teach a son or daughter about using TIP when they are upset, or explain to a friend why Radical Acceptance works to reduce stress. The therapist provides limited parenting (within professional guidelines) to recognize, articulate, validate, and help fulfill the client’s needs. Progressive muscle relaxation. Tensing and then relaxing muscles can be more effective than focusing on relaxation alone.

Diagnostic imagery helps the client understand the origins of existing emotional problems and dysfunctional behavior patterns and thinking (Young et al., 2007).The young man is then asked to form an image of himself breaking through his avoidance and staying in the situation. Mindfulness WHAT Skills: The mindfulness “what” skills describe what to be mindful of in the present – to observe, describe, and participate. Do you get regular exercise? If not, is there something you can do for exercise, starting out with just a little? Maybe start by taking a daily walk around the neighborhood if possible. The therapist asks the client to carry the diary with them and complete it when a schema is triggered.

Completing such a workbook and working through the answers in an ST therapy session can increase the client’s psychological awareness of their triggers, schemas, and alternative responses. 3. Behavioral pattern breaking While similar to the schema flashcard, the schema diary is a little more advanced and useful later in treatment when the client is more comfortable with the terms. The Schema Diary worksheet captures: Awareness, Acceptance, Action: This is an acronym that describes the process of mindful change – becoming aware of your situation/thoughts/feelings (without judgment), accepting the nature of the situation/your thoughts/feelings, and finding a way to create change (take action) where it is needed. Comparisons – reflect on the difference between the self now versus a self in a previous (worse) state

Balance Eating

Emotion-focused interventions are particularly effective at helping clients express their rage and sadness and focus on their needs and goals (Arntz & Jacob, 2013). Behavior Chain Analysis: This phrase is a complicated way of saying, “Study how your choices impact the responses you get.” Most of us navigate life and relationships by relying mostly on behavior patterns rather than thoughtfully considering every action. For those of us who experienced modeling of dysfunctional behaviors, we may have adopted behavior patterns that work against us. Taking time to study our choices and what happens as a result can help us recognize patterns we’d like to change and begin that work.