DBT House / DBH-A08-2
A Distress Tolerance Room — Practice worksheet
Create a menu of accessible soothing, distraction, and connection options with a time to reassess.
15 minutes · Worksheet · Adults; supported use as appropriate
Fictional example: Riley chooses quiet music and a brief check-in during a stressful wait.
Use an ordinary or fictional example, with a clinician when appropriate. A coping space can contain short-term options for getting through a difficult moment.
1. Choose a workable example
Use the fictional example below or an ordinary situation of your choosing. Keep identifying details out of shared copies.
2. Try the practice
Create a menu of accessible soothing, distraction, and connection options with a time to reassess.
3. Compare possibilities
Generate at least two interpretations or options. Mark what you know, what you are guessing, and what remains outside your control.
4. Decide together
Which option helps without creating another problem? Choose one small action, a support request, or no action. Review the fit with your clinician when relevant.
Prompts for this resource
- My chosen or fictional situation, and what I know about it:
- My response to the practice task above:
- Which option helps without creating another problem?
- An optional next step, support, adaptation, or reason to stop:
Conceptual background
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training: Fundamentals — Behavioral Tech Institute
Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.