DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets

by Marsha M. Linehan

Featuring more than 225 user-friendly handouts and worksheets, this is an essential resource for clients learning dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills, and those who treat them. All of the handouts and worksheets discussed in Marsha M. Linehan's DBT® Skills Training Manual, Second Edition , are provided, together with brief introductions to each module written expressly for clients. Originally developed to treat borderline personality disorder, DBT has been demonstrated effective in treatment of a wide range of psychological and emotional problems. No single skills training program will include all of the handouts and worksheets in this book; clients get quick, easy access to the tools recommended to meet their particular needs. The 8 1/2" x 11" format and spiral binding facilitate photocopying. Purchasers also get access to a Web page where they can download and print additional copies of the handouts and worksheets.

Mental health professionals, see also the author's DBT® Skills Training Manual, Second Edition, which provides complete instructions for teaching the skills. Also available: Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder , the authoritative presentation of DBT, and Linehan's instructive skills training videos for clients-- Crisis Survival Skills: Part One, Crisis Survival Skills: Part Two, From Suffering to Freedom, This One Moment , and Opposite Action .

Genres: Psychology, Self Help, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Counselling, Reference, Social Work

422 pages, Spiral-bound

First published October 23, 2014

About the author

Marsha Linehan, PhD, ABPP, is a Professor of Psychology and adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle and is Director of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics, a research consortium that develops and evaluates treatments for multi-diagnostic, severely disordered, and suicidal populations. Her primary research is in the application of behavioral models to suicidal behaviors, drug abuse, and borderline personality disorder. She is also working to develop effective models for transferring science-based treatments to the clinical community.
She is the developer of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a treatment originally developed for the treatment of suicidal behaviors and since expanded to treatment of borderline personality disorder and other severe and complex mental disorders involving serious emotion dysregulation. In comparison to all other clinical interventions for suicidal behaviors, DBT is the only treatment that has been shown effective in multiple trials across numerous independent research studies. DBT is effective at reducing suicidal behavior and is cost-effective in comparison to both standard treatment and community treatments delivered by expert therapists. It is currently the gold-standard treatment for borderline personality disorder and has demonstrated utility in the treatment of high substance abuse and eating disorders.
Linehan has authored multiple books, including three treatment manuals: Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder, DBT Skills Training Manual (2nd ed.), and Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder. She serves on a number of editorial boards and has published extensively in scientific journals.
Linehan is the founder of The Linehan Institute, a non-profit organization which helps advance mental health through support for education, research, and compassionate, scientifically-based treatments. Linehan is also the founder of Behavioral Tech LLC, a DBT training and consulting organization, and founder of Behavioral Tech Research, Inc., a company that develops innovative online and mobile technologies to disseminate science-based behavioral treatments for mental disorders.
Linehan was trained in spiritual directions under Gerald May and Tilden Edwards and is a Zen master (Roshi) in both the Sanbo-Kyodan-School under Willigis Jaeger Roshi (Germany) as well as in the Diamond Sangha (USA). She teaches mindfulness via workshops and retreats for health care providers.
She has dedicated her life and research to working with people whose lives are at-risk due to crippling and incapacitating psychological problems.

Reviews

[Renee Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone suffering C-PTSD, "C" representing "Complex" (long-term early childhood onset abuse lasting years), DBT is the first and only remarkably effective treatment to cope with fears triggered by unknown causes. The point of DBT is to awaken to the fact that feeling depressed, fearful, distress, anxiety... is perfectly normal; but it's cause is no longer present, so suffering is based on repressed trauma that is never dealt with, because one doesn't know why.

Practice the skills from this book, which will bring immense relief the more you use the them.

[shawnee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This program saved my life.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well organized with easy to follow charts when needed. This is unable to be read as a stand alone book by someone hoping for help controlling their eating disorder, like me, addiction, or other reason. You really need to be in the DBT therapy for this book to make any sense or to be helpful.

[mohamed nouari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant ebook DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, with very helpful handouts and exercises to practise. I have chronic depression and EUPD, to me, I could never understand why I experienced such intense emotions. This ebook DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets allows you to gain insight into the patterns of emotions, behavior, thoughts and helps to train your brain to manage such intensity more effectively. I'm very pleased with this ebook.

Buy the ebook
DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets

[Harlow Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a self help book, its the handouts and homework to go along with dialectical behavioral therapy. The book won’t make sense on its own. I highly recommend the therapy to anyone that feels drawn to it. There’s so many valuable life skills taught- mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This program changed my life

[Wade McGinnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this for my work, and it's wonderful that Linehan & co. have finally updated their DBT materials and approaches. This collection is a nice expansion of the materials, and you can print the tons and tons of worksheets from a webpage which is invaluable for use with patients. I wish the handouts were available as well in the same fashion though. I'm grateful for some new material to use in my DBT group, as cycling through the modules can get s but weary for professionals.

[Mallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ordered this after finishing Dr. Linehan’s memoir about developing this method to flip through and loved it so much I completed the workbook over a few months. I think anyone can benefit from giving this a shot as a practical way to incorporate more mindfulness and skillfulness into your day-to-day. 100/10!

[Lupita Kirklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Helpful

I find this workbook very useful and so does my clients. I highly recommend it. I also like that is spiral bound so it makes it easy to make photocopies to use in therapy with your clients. Great purchase!

[Sandra Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful in my outpatient mental health practice. Useful for me as well!!

[Grodie69 · Rating 5 out of 5]

some of u need this not saying who tho

[ez · Rating 5 out of 5]

literally saved my life i’m afraid

[Kaylee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not all the skills in DBT will work for you. A number of these simply aren't for me, at least not right now. And that's okay. I went through the book while in residential treatment for depression, multiple outpatient programs, and most recently a certified/adherent DBT skills group.

The distress tolerance and emotional regulation units were especially helpful and I think everybody should know them regardless of their mental health status. I have yet to be completely sold on the mindfulness unit and as for interpersonal skills...well, they're great most of the time, but they rely somewhat on the person you're interacting with to act right lol.

But frankly the writing is awful. Sometimes I hit a couple sentences of truly the most patronizing, invalidating, belittling sentiment as far as patient-centric mental health material goes, and I'm shocked Marsha chose to word it that way. Most of the time it is cold and clinical. There are other small bits that simply need to be updated because they reference things like burning CDs, iPods, MP3s, and various skills don't take our modern lives into account.

If I had to hazard a guess I think when Marsha was writing and updating the materials, she absolutely hated the internet, social media, and video games. It comes through in her tone and in teaching different skills. But maybe I'm jumping to conclusions since she's a baby boomer and I'm a gen y/z cusper.

I really hope the book is updated soon. I don't know what's taking so long. For now, I think other books can probably do all this better but I was assigned this book for my DBT skills group and programs I did in the past.

[kimberley ✵ (𝚜𝚎𝚖𝚒-𝚑𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜) · Rating 5 out of 5]

technically not a “book” but absolutely a staple for everyone who struggles with trauma, C-PTSD, borderline personality disorder (BPD) or has some of the personality traits but doesn’t fully fit the BPD diagnostic criteria

marsha saved my life. my therapist started me on DBT and we worked through this book together. week by week, I learned new skills on how to rewire my brain and build a life worth living!

I am still not finished this entire DBT program, I am in the last section of Interpersonal Relationships, however I can say 8 months into DBT, I no longer fit the BPD diagnostic criteria, and have been sober for 240 days😭

don’t get me wrong, I still have my days where it feels like everything is going wrong and that inner child is screaming internally. but with DBT, I can use my skills and improve my mood, thoughts and potentially harmful behaviours almost immediately.

I am proud to say I am absolutely going to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma and abuse. I can teach my kids all these useful skills. I can teach my kids how to regulate their very big emotions, how to communicate effectively with others and maintain healthy relationships, and how to be mindful of our surroundings and feelings.

marsha, THANK YOU. words can’t explain how much your work means to us with BPD!

[Gene Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, my. If death by reading is your goal, read this book. An incoherent jumble. What a waste of great concepts. Please, if you want to experience DBT, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. Doing so could save your life.

[Jakub Kolčář · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource and obviously invaluable if running a DBT program.

[Waneiac · Rating 5 out of 5]

mindfullness requires training. This will teach you how to, and how to employ it later. You may never finish rereading it!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love! Use in my practice all the time.

[Melissa Melson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing skills

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this “book” - though it’s more of a textbook blended with worksheets, handouts, and homework pages - during an Intro to DBT Skills class.

Overall, DBT (dialectical behavioral therapy) is an interesting therapy modality which blends the dialectical relationship of “you’re doing your best” and “you need to do better.” Initially created for BPD, DBT is primarily for those struggling with intense emotionality, such as those with BPD or suicidality.

Though DBT is an intensive treatment (which requires individual therapy, skills groups, phone coaching, and consultation teams) this book - for the purposes of my class - focused solely on the skills taught during group sessions. Some of the skills I found incredibly useful, and would eagerly incorporate them in work with future clients, while others seemed a bit silly.

[Kate Emery · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this is a sacred text. It is a must for anyone seeking dialectical behavioral therapy. Many of the skills Linehan provides are helpful to even a general audience. Linehan is incredible (an understatement). She offers straightforward, practical life tools. This text is a cornerstone of DBT skills training. I commonly have it open on my dresser or desk because I constantly look through it for insights for myself and others.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't assess if this would be as helpful and effective on it's own as that is not how I went through it, led through a therapy (cancer) group by a Psychologist. But it has a lot of materials, worksheets and information so I think it could if someone was disciplined enough. But it was great and useful for me and I am thankful for the whole DBT experience.

[Ashton Eleazer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s obvious that this book needs to be used in context of DBT therapy but I do think it’s still useful on its own to learn skills or to dabble in some of the worksheets and homework to see if it’s something that could be helpful. I could personally see the mindfulness being difficult but some of the worksheets to emotionally regulate were really cool.

[Chewingcigarettes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today I will wear my white button-down
I'm tired of wanting more
I think I'm finally worn
For you have a way of promising things
And I've been a forest fire
I am a forest fire
And I am the fire and I am the forest
And I am a witness watching it
I stand in a valley watching it
And you are not there at all

[Zell Murdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great skills and fantastic handouts - my only critique is that many of the worksheets just serve as diaries for the skills in the handouts, rather than furthering or working with the topic. Otherwise an awesome book and such a great style of therapy

[Leelocin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life emotionally, mentally, professionally, and relationally. I read it alongside a counselor, social worker, and other outpatients interested in advancing their mental health; we studied it twice weekly over two years.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really comprehensive book including all of DBT. Lots of useful skills. The one downside is the price. I believe most if not all the information could be obtained online for free, such as in PDFs from your provider/facilitator. There are also nice YouTube channels such as DBT-RU.

[Emmett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consider this book the complete manual for being a human being with emotions. DBT changed my life.

The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because some of the handouts and worksheets are poorly designed in ways that make them confusing or difficult to use.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this as part of a DBT Skills Training class and found it to be very helpful, though I don't know that it would have been as helpful reading it on its own without the group therapy component. This is essentially considered the DBT skills Bible for good reason, though.