Why DBT Skills Aren’t Working (and What to Do Instead)
Why DBT Skills Aren’t Working (and What to Do Instead) If you’ve been trying DBT skills and feel like nothing is changing, you’re not alone. You might be thinking: “I know the skills, but I can’t use them in the moment” “I try, but it doesn’t actually change how I feel” “Maybe I’m just doing it wrong” And over [read more]
Feel Emotions Too Intensely? Why It Happens and What Actually Helps
Feel Emotions Too Intensely? You’re Not Broken If you feel emotions too intensely, you’ve probably heard things like: “You’re too sensitive” “You’re overreacting” “You need to calm down” And at some point, you may have started to believe it. But here’s the reality:Your emotions aren’t the problem. The way they’re understood..and responded to...is. Many people who feel emotions intensely aren’t [read more]
DBT Problem Solving: What to Do When Your Emotions Fit the Facts
DBT problem solving is the skill you use when your emotions make sense, but the situation itself needs to change. [read more]
Opposite Action DBT: How to Change Emotions When They Feel Too Strong
If you’ve ever felt stuck in an emotion that just won’t shift, you’re not alone. Opposite action DBT is one of the most effective skills for changing emotions that feel too strong or hard to manage. [read more]
Check the Facts Not Working? Why DBT Doesn’t Work Sometimes (and What to Do Instead)
If you’ve tried using the DBT skill “check the facts” and thought, this isn’t working, you’re not alone. A lot of people learn this skill and quickly feel frustrated, stuck, or even more overwhelmed. [read more]
DBT Emotion Model: How Emotions Work
The DBT emotion model is one of the most important tools for understanding and regulating emotions. Before you can change how you feel, you need to understand what is actually happening inside your emotional system. Most people experience emotions as overwhelming or confusing. In reality, emotions follow a pattern. When you understand that pattern, emotions become more predictable, more manageable, [read more]
Emotion Encyclopedia: Identify and Describe Your Emotions
The DBT emotion model is one of the most important tools for understanding and regulating emotions. Before you can change how you feel, you need to know what is actually happening inside your emotional system. This skill helps you answer a more basic question: What am I actually feeling? Most people don’t struggle because they “have too many emotions.” They [read more]
Check the Facts with Dialectical Behavior Therapy
If you’ve ever spiraled after a text wasn’t answered, assumed the worst, or felt your emotions escalate quickly, you’re not alone. DBT has a skill specifically for this: Check the Facts. Check the Facts: A Complete Guide to One of Dialectical Behavior Therapy's Most Important Skills If you only learn one emotion regulation skill in DBT, this is one of [read more]
Living with Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is one of the most misunderstood (and most stigmatized) mental health conditions. It’s often reduced to stereotypes: “dramatic,” “manipulative,” “too much.” But those labels miss the truth. At its core, BPD is about intense emotional sensitivity, deep pain, and a nervous system that struggles to regulate overwhelming internal experiences. And perhaps most importantly: BPD is treatable. [read more]
Emotions 101
Why We Even Have Emotions Most people come into therapy wanting fewer emotions.Or at least quieter ones. But in DBT, emotions are not the problem.They are doing a job. Emotions evolved to help us survive, connect, and make decisions quickly. When we understand their function, they start to feel a lot less chaotic...and a lot more predictable! What Emotions Actually [read more]
Traumatic Invalidation, Part II
Why It Hurts So Much and How to Start Healing When It Keeps Happening If you read my original post on traumatic invalidation, you’re probably already familiar with how deeply painful it can feel when your emotional experience is dismissed, especially during or after trauma. Many people told me they felt seen by that language. Others said, “This explains so [read more]
Mother’s Day Grief
For some of us, Mother's Day is not a celebration. It's a tender bruise we carry into brunch invitations and Instagram tributes. It aches in the grocery store card aisle and pulses when we scroll past smiling photos of mothers and daughters who still call each other every Sunday. It's complicated grief. It's guilt and longing and rage and deep, [read more]
