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Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches a set of practical skills for riding out strong emotions, staying steady in a crisis, and asking for what you need without wrecking a relationship. This is a plain-language map of those skills: what each one is for, how to do it, and how to note it on your card. It is general education, not treatment. Your therapist's version always wins.
DBT was developed by Marsha M. Linehan for people whose emotions come faster, hit harder and last longer than most people's, and who have a hard time holding back the actions that follow. The "dialectic" is that two things that look like opposites can both be true. The central pair in DBT is acceptance and change: you are doing the best you can, and you need to do better. The skills are the change half.
The skills come in four groups. Mindfulness is the base the other three stand on. Treatment usually teaches one group at a time over several months, so it is normal to know only a few of these at first.
You will find you already use some of them without the names. Choosing a walk over a drink, taking a deliberate break after a hard day, staying the calm one in the room: those are skills. Naming them is what lets you use them on purpose.
A standard DBT diary card asks five things a day: how strong each emotion was, how strong each urge was, whether target behaviors happened, which skills you used, and one overall rating of skill use. Strongest Point can carry all five. Here is a shape that works for most people.
| Used a DBT skill today | Yes / No. The gate for the two below. |
| Which skills | Pick any that apply, from a list of the skills you actually know. Shown only if the first is Yes. Start with ten, grow it as you learn. |
| What was going on | Free text, shown only if Yes. The situation, the emotion, the urge. This is what your therapist will read. |
| Did it help | Pick one: Not really / Somewhat / A lot. The closest thing to the diary card's 0 to 7 rating. |
| Urges | A 0 to 5 count for each urge you and your therapist are watching: drinking, self-harm, quitting. |
| Emotions | A 0 to 5 count, or a percent, for the two or three emotions that matter most this month. |
Count a skill you used by accident. If you notice afterwards that you did Opposite action, write it down. Naming it is how it becomes deliberate.
Count the skill you didn't use when you could have. "Could have used STOP, didn't" is one of the most useful entries on a card.
Flag the day with ✱ when something happened that you want to talk about in session.
The card is for you and your therapist. It is not a score. A week of "No" is information, not failure.
If you have just finished the basics, these twelve cover most days. Your therapist may trim or swap them.
In the app, under “Add an item”, tap “Start from the standard DBT skills list” to add these in one go, then trim or add to them.
This page is general education, written in plain language, about skills taught in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. It is not treatment or advice, and it is not a substitute for care from a qualified clinician. DBT and its skills are the work of Marsha M. Linehan. Strongest Point is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by Dr. Linehan, Behavioral Tech, the Linehan Institute or Guilford Press. The wording here is ours; the skills are hers. If you are in crisis, use the Crisis help button in the app or contact your local emergency number.
Updated 2026-10-03. Questions or corrections: hello@strongestpoint.com.