The DBT Workbook for Emotional Relief: Fast-Acting Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills to Balance Out-of-Control Emotions and Find Calm Right Now

by Sheri Van Dijk

Fast-acting “emotional rescue” tools grounded in proven-effective DBT to help you find quick relief from intense thoughts and feelings, as well as core emotion regulation skills to help you stay balanced. Do you have difficulty managing your emotions? If you’re like most people, the answer is most likely an emphatic, “ Yes! ” Dealing with emotions is challenging, and it’s easy to misunderstand those feelings—especially in the heat of the moment when it feels like they’re ganging up on you from all directions. Getting hijacked by your emotions can leave you feeling helpless—with nowhere to go and nothing or no one to help you. If only you had tools at the ready to extinguish the turmoil before it starts raging. In this breakthrough workbook, renowned dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) expert Sheri Van Dijk delivers fast-acting emotional rescue tools that you can put into practice right now to effectively manage your feelings and prevent meltdowns. You’ll learn essential skills for staying calm when things feel overwhelming—including mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Putting these newfound skills into practice will help you take charge of your emotions, reduce pain and suffering, focus more on positive feelings, and improve your overall quality of life. Dealing with emotions is tricky; the good news is you no longer have to go it alone. If you’re tired of trying and failing to find balance—and want fast relief from the emotional storm—this workbook has you covered. This emotional “quick-rescue” kit will help

Genres: Psychology, Mental Health, Self Help

184 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2022

About the author

I am a psychotherapist working at Southlake Regional Health Centre and in private practice. I have a Master's degree in social work, and specialize in treating psychiatric disorders using dialectical behavior therapy and mindfulness practice.

I have written several books that help readers use DBT skills to treat emotional problems, including The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder, The Bipolar Workbook for Teens (co-author), Don’t Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens, and Calming the Emotional Storm; and am the author of DBT Made Simple, a book that aims to teach clinicians how to use DBT with their clients diagnosed with a variety of emotional problems.

I'm just putting the finishing touches on my sixth book, which teaches teens DBT skills to help them be more effective in their relationships; look for this book to be published early in 2015.

In 2010 I won the R.O. Jones Award at the Canadian Psychiatric Association Annual Conference for my research on using DBT skills in a bipolar disorder group, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in March, 2013.

Visit me at www.sherivandijk.com.

Reviews

[Megan Ammer-Barefield · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple and concise guide to DBT practices and principles. The inclusion of quick regulation skills is helpful in the self-help format but I was hoping for more classical examples of DBT skill sets and understandings. Still useful for work with clients and individual practice.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is my sh*t. If you struggle with emotional dysregulation, really bad anxiety, and have trauma, this might be helpful for you. This is a workbook full of exercises to complete. (I did not do them all, only once I hadn’t heard of before & some I wanted to practice again).


Pros:
-Allows access to fast-acting, immediate relief from emotional pain, stress, overstimulation / activation with a plethora of PRACTICAL exercises. If you do even one of these exercises you can start to feel relief in a couple seconds to minutes. If you can combine them, even better.

-Accessible for people who aren’t able to have access to therapy but want something practical.

-Allowed to take at your own pace, doing the exercises that you feel will benefit you most.

Cons:
- There is a lot of repetitiveness.

-Real life scenarios & examples were biased. This book is definitely not decolonized in any way.

-Not super neurodivergent friendly. Can feel confusing and out of order/ messy. There could have been better structure.

-For someone who has never heard of DBT before or is not a mental health professional, some parts could be confusing.

4/5 I still think it’s worth it to learn and practice all of the exercises & just a really good book to have easy access to.

[Deanna Birkla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Criticisms:
*The author neglects to provide any education as to what DBT is, so it creates the assumption that the reader should already know.
*The way the book is written comes across as being "dumbed down" while still being formal in the language and less of a relatable guide to educating a person on emotional regulation.
*I feel like the book is out of order, and subjects/chapters could've been arranged better for the reader and be more cohesive of a resource.

Praises:
*Amazing self-reflection questions for readers to guide the message the chapter was trying to introduce
*Great suggestions for DBT based activities
*Incorporates other areas of psychology to analyze and overcome challenges in everyday life that might be effecting mental health
*Referenced previous research and included a resource page

[mirror · Rating 5 out of 5]

straightforward, prosaic
found from evie lupines youtube
this was great, a concise practical guide to DBT foundations, giving you skills you can start w immediately but also for the medium and long term. id suggest this to everyone to read and arm themselves w a toolkit for navigating emotions and urges in their life. i have a ton of notes on this ill refrain from dumping in here lol