DBT Wise Mind Worksheets
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Looking for DBT wise mind worksheets? In this article, we include an explanation of the DBT wise mind tool, states of mind examples, and free printable DBT wise mind worksheets that you can use in your practice.
Behavioral health clinicians draw from a range of modalities to help clients enhance their coping strategies and improve their mental health, such as dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
What is dialectical behavioral therapy?
DBT is a structured, evidence-based modality that is used by clinicians in talk therapy.
Therapists use DBT to support individuals in teaching coping strategies, regulating emotions, building resilience, and enhancing social relationships. DBT can be done in both individual and group therapy sessions.
This type of therapy can be used to treat personality disorders, self-harm, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders.
DBT teaches four core skills:
- Distress tolerance
- Mindfulness
- Emotion regulation skills
- Interpersonal effectiveness
States of mind examples in DBT
The DBT wise mind tool teaches clients the ability to make healthy decisions about their lives. The term “wise mind” relates to the mindfulness part of DBT, a concept inspired from Zen Buddhism.
Mindfulness is the ability to focus on, acknowledge, and accept the present moment—including our physical, mental, and emotional states. Thus, the concept of the wise mind is to make an informed decision based on our rational thoughts and emotions.
There are three states of mind examples in DBT:
- Emotional mind: Leads individuals to make decisions based on how they feel.
- Rational or reasonable mind: The part of the mind that evaluates the facts about a situation and makes a rational decision. Used alone, however, this too can cause a problem.
- Wise mind: This state of mind blends reasoned thinking with considering emotions to make healthy, reasoned decisions.
Download the DBT wise mind worksheet PDFs above that you can save in your electronic health record (EHR) to use with clients.
DBT wise mind examples
The following table describes behaviors or actions driven by all three states of mind, with the last column illustrating DBT wise mind examples.
| Emotional Mind | Rational Mind | Wise/Reasonable Mind DBT Examples |
| Acting impulsively, like shouting at another driver that cuts ahead of you on the highway. | Knowing that people are more likely to drive erratically during rush hour and avoiding driving peak times. |
|
| Buying something you can’t afford to cheer yourself up after a breakup. | Cutting up your credit cards because of your propensity to impulse shop when upset. |
|
| Walking out of a job because your boss gave you some feedback you didn’t like. | Providing a list of all your flaws to your boss. |
|
| Guesstimating measurements for a cake and substituting ingredients without considering how that might impact cooking time, etc. | Measuring the ingredients for a cake. | Following the directions to make the cake and using the measured ingredients. |
How to use the DBT wise mind worksheet
To use the DBT wise mind worksheet, first walk the client through the DBT wise mind examples in the table above, illustrating situations where they may have acted from their emotional and rational mind. Then, provide a wise mind example and discuss it.
Using the blank worksheet included in the DBT wise mind worksheet PDF, ask clients to think about and record situations in which they may have acted from their emotional or rational mind. Then, in the third column, consider what a mindful and reasoned (wise mind) response might look like.
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