5 DBT Skills for Managing Emotional Triggers

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a type of therapy originally developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan to help people manage intense emotions, improve relationships, and cope with distress. While it was first used for borderline personality disorder, DBT is now widely applied for anxiety, depression, trauma, and everyday emotional regulation challenges.

Emotional regulation, one of DBT’s four core modules, focuses on understanding and managing strong emotions so they don’t overwhelm or control your actions. Emotional triggers—situations, thoughts, or memories that spark intense emotional reactions—can throw us off balance. DBT offers concrete, actionable skills to help you respond to these triggers with clarity rather than react impulsively.

Below are five DBT skills that can help you manage emotional triggers more effectively.

Accumulating Positive Experiences

When life is filled with small, positive moments, it’s easier to handle emotional storms. This skill involves intentionally increasing the number of enjoyable activities and interactions in your daily life.

There are two levels:

·   Short-term: Plan small, pleasant events regularly—like meeting a friend for coffee, listening to your favorite music, or taking a nature walk. These experiences act as emotional “deposits” in your mental bank account.

·   Long-term: Work toward building a life that aligns with your values and goals, which leads to deeper, more sustained positive emotions. This might mean pursuing a meaningful career, maintaining healthy relationships, or engaging in hobbies that give you a sense of purpose.

By accumulating positive experiences, you build emotional resilience, making it harder for triggers to derail you.

Building Mastery

When you consistently engage in activities that improve your skills or competence, you increase your sense of capability and self-confidence. Building mastery is about intentionally choosing challenges or hobbies you can succeed at and gradually increasing the difficulty over time.

Examples include:

·   Learning a new skill at work or in a hobby

·   Practicing a language you’ve been studying

·   Cooking a recipe you’ve been nervous to try

Even small successes send a powerful message to your brain: “I can handle things.” This confidence can help reduce the intensity of emotional triggers because you feel more prepared to face challenges.

Coping Ahead

Sometimes triggers are predictable—like a difficult meeting, a family gathering, or a stressful event you know is coming. Coping ahead means rehearsing in your mind how you will handle the situation before it happens.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Visualize the situation as vividly as possible.

2. Identify potential emotional challenges and the skills you might need.

3. Mentally rehearse using your coping skills, such as deep breathing, grounding techniques, or setting boundaries.

By planning your response in advance, you reduce the likelihood of being caught off guard and reacting impulsively when the trigger occurs.

Opposite Action

Emotions often come with urges—fear makes us want to avoid, anger makes us want to lash out, sadness makes us want to withdraw. While these urges can sometimes be useful, they can also lead us in unhelpful directions.

Opposite action means doing the exact opposite of what your emotion is urging you to do when your emotion doesn’t fit the facts or acting on it would be harmful.

·   If you feel like isolating when you’re sad, reach out to a friend instead.

·   If you want to avoid a situation because of anxiety, approach it in small, manageable steps.

·   If you’re angry and want to yell, speak calmly or take a break.

·   If you feel guilty either only apologize once.

·   If you feel shameful share the part of you that you want to hide.

Check the Facts

Sometimes our emotional reactions are based on interpretations, assumptions, or past experiences rather than the current reality. Checking the facts involves slowing down and asking: “Does my emotion fit the actual situation?”

Steps include:

1. Identify the situation prompting the emotion.

2. Separate the facts from your interpretations.

3. Consider other possible explanations.

4. Decide if your emotion is justified and at what intensity.

For instance, if a friend doesn’t reply to your text, the fact is simply that they haven’t responded yet—not necessarily that they’re angry or ignoring you. Reassessing the situation with facts in mind can lessen the emotional impact of the trigger.

Conclusion

Managing emotional triggers takes practice, patience, and self-compassion. DBT skills like accumulating positive experiences, building mastery, coping ahead, using opposite action, and checking the facts offer practical strategies to stay grounded and respond more effectively to life’s challenges.

If these skills resonate with you, consider working with a DBT-trained therapist who can guide you through learning and applying them in a way tailored to your unique needs. You don’t have to let emotional triggers dictate your actions—these tools can help you take back control and move toward the life you want.

Citations

1. Borges, A. (2024, January 31). Why having a little hobby is so good for you, according to science. Self. Retrieved August 12, 2025, from https://www.self.com/story/hobbies-health-benefits/

2. Counseling Center Group. (2025, June). Master DBT emotional regulation for a balanced life. Counseling Center Group. Retrieved August 12, 2025, from Counseling Center Group website: https://counselingcentergroup.com/dbt-emotional-regulation/

3. Jake, J. (n.d.). How an “Opposite Action” Can Make Things Better. Better & Betterer. Retrieved August 12, 2025, from https://betterandbetterer.com/opposite-action-can-make-things-better/