Your DBT toolbox: distress tolerance, emotion regulation, mindfulness & interpersonal effectiveness
DBT skills — pick one for right now
DBT gives you a toolbox for hard moments. The right tool depends on what you need — cooling down a wave, getting through an hour, sitting with a feeling, or speaking up. Pick one, try it for a few minutes, then check what shifted.
Why this helps
DBT skills work because they give your nervous system a different input than what the emotion is asking for. Pick the one that matches what's happening — wired needs slowing, numb needs waking, urge needs surfing.
A quick reading. So you can see what shifts after.
Pick the closest fit. This narrows it down.
Tap one to see how to do it. You can switch and try another after.
DBT toolbox — the full DBT skills list, interactive and sendable
A free DBT toolbox for clinicians and clients — the complete skills list from all four DBT modules (Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness) with a short use-it-now script for each skill. Send a curated subset to a client's phone, or let them search the full list when they need a skill in the moment.
The four DBT skill modules
- Mindfulness — the foundation: observe, describe, participate; one-mindfully, non-judgmentally, effectively. The wise mind state.
- Distress Tolerance — crisis survival: TIPP, STOP, ACCEPTS, IMPROVE the moment, self-soothe with five senses, radical acceptance.
- Emotion Regulation — reducing vulnerability: PLEASE, check the facts, opposite action, problem solving, building mastery, accumulating positives.
- Interpersonal Effectiveness — getting what you need without damaging the relationship: DEAR MAN, GIVE, FAST.
DBT skills cheat sheet — the core acronyms
TIPP (distress tolerance)
Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, Paired muscle relaxation — fast body-chemistry shift.
STOP (distress tolerance)
Stop, Take a step back, Observe, Proceed mindfully — the pause before a high-stakes reaction.
ACCEPTS (distress tolerance)
Activities, Contributing, Comparisons, Emotions, Push away, Thoughts, Sensations — distraction menu.
PLEASE (emotion regulation)
Physical iLlness, Eating, mood-Altering substances, Sleep, Exercise — reducing biological vulnerability.
DEAR MAN (interpersonal)
Describe, Express, Assert, Reinforce, Mindful, Appear confident, Negotiate — the assertive ask.
GIVE (interpersonal)
Gentle, Interested, Validate, Easy manner — when the relationship matters as much as the outcome.
FAST (interpersonal)
Fair, no Apologies, Stick to values, Truthful — when self-respect is the priority.
Wise Mind (mindfulness)
The integration of emotion mind and reasonable mind — felt-sense decisions that hold up.
How clinicians use this DBT toolbox
- Skills coaching between sessions — assign 3–5 specific skills tied to the week's behavioral target.
- Crisis planning — pair the toolbox with a safety plan so distress-tolerance skills are one tap away.
- Skills practice tracking — see which skills a client actually used (and which they didn't) before the next chain analysis.
- Adjunct to non-DBT therapy — many CBT, schema, and trauma-informed clinicians borrow distress-tolerance and emotion-regulation skills without running a full DBT program.
- Adolescent and family DBT — the toolbox works as a shared reference between teen and parent so both are speaking the same skill language.
DBT toolbox app vs. a printable DBT skills list PDF
Printable DBT skills lists are everywhere — and most live in a binder. The interactive toolbox is searchable, sortable by module, and the client can favorite the skills their therapist flagged so they're one tap away in a high-emotion moment. We also offer a printable DBT skills cheat sheet PDF linked below for clients who prefer paper.
Pair it with the rest of the DBT toolkit
- DBT diary card — daily tracking of urges, emotions, and which skills got used.
- Chain analysis — interactive behavior-chain analysis that lands in your dashboard.
- Safety plan — an interactive crisis plan on the client's phone for 2am.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a DBT toolbox?
- A DBT toolbox is the working set of skills from Marsha Linehan's Dialectical Behavior Therapy — the four modules of Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness — organized so a client can find the right skill at the right moment. This interactive toolbox is the full skills list, searchable and sendable, with a short script and a 'when to use' note for each skill.
- What are the four DBT skill modules?
- Mindfulness (the 'what' and 'how' skills — observe, describe, participate, non-judgmentally, one-mindfully, effectively). Distress Tolerance (crisis survival skills like TIPP, STOP, ACCEPTS, IMPROVE, plus radical acceptance). Emotion Regulation (PLEASE, opposite action, check the facts, problem solving, building mastery). Interpersonal Effectiveness (DEAR MAN, GIVE, FAST).
- What's the difference between distress tolerance and emotion regulation?
- Distress tolerance skills are for surviving the moment when the emotion is too high to work with — TIPP, ice dive, paced breathing, ACCEPTS distraction. Emotion regulation skills are for the calmer windows where you can actually reduce the vulnerability to the emotion — PLEASE, opposite action, checking the facts, accumulating positive experiences. A client in crisis needs distress tolerance; the same client three days later needs emotion regulation.
- What is the TIPP skill?
- TIPP is a four-part crisis survival skill: Temperature (cold water on the face or an ice pack to the eyes/cheeks to trigger the mammalian dive reflex), Intense exercise (60–90 seconds of all-out movement), Paced breathing (slower exhale than inhale), Paired muscle relaxation (tense-and-release). All four work by changing body chemistry fast — useful when the emotion is so high a client can't think.
- What is DEAR MAN?
- DEAR MAN is the DBT script for asking for what you want or saying no: Describe (the situation), Express (how you feel), Assert (the ask, in one sentence), Reinforce (why the other person benefits), Mindful (stay on topic), Appear confident, Negotiate. It pairs with GIVE (gentle, interested, validate, easy manner) for relationship-preserving and FAST (fair, no apologies, stick to values, truthful) for self-respect.
- Is this DBT skills tool free?
- Yes. The DBT skills toolbox is free to use with no account required. Clinicians can sign up free to assign specific skills per client, send a curated skill set to a client's phone, and track which skills the client used between sessions.
- Can my client access the DBT toolbox on their phone?
- Yes. The toolbox is touch-first and works in any browser on phone, tablet, or laptop — designed for the moment a client needs a skill, not for desktop reading. Sends from you arrive in a simple client portal, no app to install.
- Is this an official Linehan DBT resource?
- No. It's a clinical-reference interactive list compiled from publicly documented DBT skills (Linehan, 1993; 2014 skills manual). Therapists using a full DBT program should pair it with formal training, consultation team, and the official skills manuals — this toolbox supports between-session skills coaching, not full DBT certification.