Dialectical Behavior Therapy Techniques
Emotion Regulation
Presented by: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes Executive Director, AllCEUs
Podcast Host: Counselor Toolbox & Happiness isn’t Brain Surgery
Author: Journey to Recovery (2015) & Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery (2017)
Objectives
~ Define emotion regulation
~ Identify why emotion regulation is important and how it can help you
Emotion Regulation
~ Is useful for anyone
~ Increases present focused emotion awareness
~ Increases cognitive flexibility
~ Identifies and prevents patterns of
~ Emotion avoidance
~ Emotion-driven behaviors
~ Increases awareness and tolerance of emotion-related physical sensations
~ Uses emotion focused exposure procedures
Identifying Obstacles to Changing Emotions
~ Biological factors
~ Organic
~ Brain abnormalities
~ Trauma induced brain damage
~ Situationally caused by
~ Chronic stress
~ Addiction
~ Sleep deprivation
~ Nutritional problems +/-
Activity
~ Mitigation
~ Some days you just won’t be 100% What can you do to be kind to yourself so you have the resources to deal with the must dos?
~ When I am having an off day, to be good to myself, I will…
~ By being kind to myself, I am preventing emotional distress which…
Activity
~ Time Management
~ Make a list of everything you need/want to do this week
~ Cross off anything that doesn’t have to be done this week
~ Highlight everything that MUST get done
~ Identify people that can help
~ Identify any short-cuts to make it more do-able
Identifying Obstacles to Changing Emotions
~ Skills factors
~ Cognitive responses
~ Unhelpful thoughts
~ Pessimism
~ Behavioral responses
~ Inability to tolerate distress
~ Inability to delay acting on urges
Activity
~ Identify 2 positive things you can tell yourself for each of the following types of stressful situations
~ Loss of control/the unknown
~ Failure/rejection
~ Safety threats
Identifying Obstacles to Changing Emotions
~ Environmental Factors
~ People
~ Places
~ Things
Activity
~ Identifying and overcoming obstacles to changing emotions (one page for each)
~ Identify all of the people who cause stress in your life
~ How can you deal with that?
~ Identify all of the people who buffer stress in your life
~ How can you nurture that?
~ Identify common stressful situations/things and places
~ How can you make them less stressful?
Summary
~ Emotion regulation helps people become more aware of their emotional states throughout the day
~ Obstacles to changing emotions include biological, skills and environmental factors
~ All obstacles can be traversed…
~ Prevent as many as possible
~ Find ways to work with or around the ones that are not preventable.
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