Emotion regulation is one of the most powerful modules in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). It teaches clients to understand, label, and manage emotions instead of being controlled by them. For therapists, worksheets provide a structured, repeatable way to practice these skills in session and as homework.
This guide shows you step-by-step how to use DBT emotion regulation worksheets effectively with teens and adults.
Why Emotion Regulation Matters
- Reduces emotional reactivity
- Helps prevent self-destructive behaviors
- Increases emotional awareness and vocabulary
- Supports long-term resilience and healthier coping
Clients often come to therapy feeling like emotions “happen to them.” Emotion regulation worksheets give them a roadmap for recognizing, naming, and changing emotional patterns.
Step 1: Introduce the Emotion Regulation Skills
Explain that DBT emotion regulation is about:
- Understanding emotions → noticing triggers, thoughts, body sensations.
- Reducing vulnerability → using skills like PLEASE (treating Physical illness, balanced Eating, avoid mood-Altering substances, balanced Sleep, Exercise).
- Changing emotions → with techniques like Opposite Action and Check the Facts.
📄 Provide clients with an overview worksheet listing all emotion regulation skills so they see the big picture before practicing one skill at a time.
Step 2: Select the Right Worksheet for the Client’s Need
1. Emotion Diary / Log
Tracks triggers, emotions, intensity, urges, and coping strategies.
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Best for: increasing awareness and spotting patterns.
2. Check the Facts Worksheet
Guides clients to test whether their emotional reaction fits the facts of the situation.
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Best for: situations with distorted thinking or strong assumptions.
3. Opposite Action Worksheet
Helps clients act opposite to the emotion-driven urge (e.g., approach instead of avoid when anxious).
- Best for: breaking unhealthy emotion-behavior cycles.
4. PLEASE Skills Worksheet
Daily checklist to reduce vulnerability to emotional extremes.
- Best for: building healthy routines.
5. Building Positive Experiences Worksheet
Encourages scheduling pleasant, mastery-building, or value-based activities.
- Best for: depression, low motivation, or burnout.
Step 3: Work Through a Worksheet in Session
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Choose a recent emotional event.
Example: A client felt anger after receiving critical feedback. -
Fill in the worksheet together.
- On a Check the Facts sheet, note:
- Trigger: “My boss criticized my report.”
- Emotion: “Anger (80/100).”
- Facts: “The report had two mistakes. Feedback was not personal.”
- Reframe: “I can fix this.”
3. Pause for reflection.
Ask: “How does your emotion feel now compared to when we started?”
This in-session modeling ensures clients understand how to apply the skill when alone.
Step 4: Assign as Homework
- Give clients a worksheet packet to practice between sessions.
- Suggest they pick one worksheet per week (not all at once).
- Review in the following session: what worked, what felt difficult, what insights they had.
Step 5: Integrate Emotion Regulation Worksheets into Treatment
- Combine with mindfulness worksheets → clients practice observing emotions without judgment.
- Pair with distress tolerance worksheets → for crisis situations where regulation feels impossible.
- Create a binder or digital folder → clients collect completed worksheets, building their own DBT skills manual.
Tips for Therapists
- For teens: simplify worksheets with visuals (emotion wheels, rating scales, cartoons).
- For trauma survivors: start with gentle skills (PLEASE, positive experiences) before heavy cognitive ones (Opposite Action).
- For groups: assign one worksheet, then process together in discussion.