My personal journey with DBT and journaling has been absolutely transformative, offering invaluable tools for navigating challenges in the early and ongoing stages of my recovery. In this introductory guide, I’ll explore the profound intersection between mindfulness, DBT skills, and journaling, offering 13 DBT journal prompts for getting started on your own journey.
Whether you’re new to DBT mindfulness, seeking to deepen your self-care journaling practice, or brushing up on your old DBT skills, this guide will provide you with practical insights and journal prompts inspired by my DBT Mindfulness Skills Guide & Journal Prompts EBook, crafted to enhance your journey towards emotional regulation and wise mind living.
Journaling & DBT Skills Training: A Match Made in Heaven
DBT, developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan, integrates various therapeutic approaches, including mindfulness, to help individuals regulate emotions, manage distress, improve interpersonal relationships, and cultivate a sense of well-being.
Mindfulness, a cornerstone of DBT, encourages us to observe our thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgement, fostering greater self-awareness and acceptance. Journaling complements DBT mindfulness skills beautifully by providing a safe space for self-reflection, exploration, and integration of DBT skills into daily life.
Through journaling, we can deepen our understanding of our experiences, identify patterns, celebrate progress, and strategise solutions for challenges. Incorporating DBT mindfulness skills into journaling practices can also significantly enhance their efficacy.
By grounding ourselves in the present moment, practising nonjudgmental awareness, and embracing radical acceptance, we can cultivate a more compassionate and balanced relationship with ourselves and others. Journal prompts for BPD or prompts inspired by DBT mindfulness skills like those provided in this guide can serve as guiding stars, illuminating our path towards emotional regulation, wise mind living, and authentic self-expression.
Understanding DBT States of Mind
DBT emphasises the cultivation of mindfulness skills to navigate the complex interplay between emotional mind and reasonable mind, leading to the integration of wise mind.
Journal Prompts for Recognising Mind States
- Emotion Mind — Dominated by intense emotions, urges, and impulsivity: Reflect on the signs that indicate you’re in emotion mind. What physical sensations or behaviours typically accompany emotion mind for you? Describe a recent situation where you experienced emotion mind, alongside reasonable mind and wise mind perspectives.
- Reasonable Mind — Governed by facts, logic, and pragmatism, often detached from emotions. Are there any specific situations that come to mind where you often feel like you have to shut off your emotions and only think logically? Why do you think that is? How does that feel in your body? Do you notice any thoughts arise here?
- Wise Mind — The synthesis of emotion mind and reasonable mind, leading to balanced decision-making: Explore the obstacles hindering your access to wise mind. What internal or external factors make it challenging for you to stay grounded in wise mind during distress? Brainstorm strategies to overcome these obstacles when they arise in the future, or to prepare ahead of time, and strengthen your connection to wise mind.
Practising Core Mindfulness Skills
Central to DBT mindfulness are the WHAT and HOW core mindfulness skills, which lay the groundwork for effective emotion regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness.
Journal Prompts for WHAT Skills
- Observe — Only observe and notice sensory experiences within and around you without interpretation: Pay attention to sights, sounds, smells, and bodily sensations in detail. What are three things you observed today that you usually overlook? Describe them in detail. Alternatively, do this practice right now, simply notice, and spend a few minutes observing what is currently happening, just the facts, within and around you.
- Describe — Practise nonjudgmental description of your surroundings and internal experiences. Distinguish factual observations from interpretations. Write about a recent situation where you practised just describing the facts of your thoughts and feelings, or actively write out a non-judgmental description of your surroundings, thoughts and feelings at this moment. How did this differ from your usual autopilot reactions?
- Participate — Commit fully to ongoing activities, focusing on the here and now. Explore opportunities for immersive engagement in daily tasks, and journal about how this felt in the moment and after.
Journal Prompts for HOW skills
- Nonjudgmentally — Notice and label judgmental thoughts throughout the day: Cultivate acceptance and let go of evaluative tendencies. Reflect on a recent experience where you let go of judgement and practised acceptance of reality as it is. When judgements naturally arise, notice them and label them, then let them go. How does this impact your emotional state?
- One-Mindfully — Identify activities conducive to one-mindful engagement: Describe moments of single-pointed focus in mundane tasks. Describe a moment from today where you focused entirely on one task. How did it feel in your body and thoughts compared to multitasking?
- Effectively — Align actions with overarching goals and values: Consider the effectiveness of your choices in achieving desired outcomes. Do your day-to-day actions currently align with your long-term goals and underlying values? Make a values list and a current priorities list to help you identify any misalignment.
Exploring Mindfulness of Emotion, Thought and Others
Mindfulness extends beyond external observation to encompass internal experiences, including emotions and thoughts.
Journal Prompts for Mindfulness of Emotion
- Observe Physical Sensations of Emotion: Reflect on a recent emotional experience. What physical sensations accompanied the emotion? How did you respond to these sensations? Could you sit with the sensation of the emotion until it faded, or did you feel pulled to avoid the sensations of the emotions?
Journal Prompts for Mindfulness of Thought
- Notice Connections Between Thoughts & Emotions: Write about a recurring thought pattern you’ve noticed lately. How does this thought pattern influence your emotions and behaviours?
- Practice Checking the Facts of Your Thoughts: Bring to mind a current challenging situation in your life. Write out the thoughts that come to mind as honestly as you can. Then, go back and underline any thoughts that are judgments or assumptions, not facts. You can also rewrite the statements in their non-judgmental way afterwards. E.G.: My music must be bothering the neighbours. They must hate me.’ becomes ‘I notice that my music is loud, and this causes a tight knot of anxiety in my stomach and thoughts that my neighbour must hate me.’
Journal Prompts for Mindfulness of Others
- One-Mindful Interactions: Recall a recent conversation with a loved one. How did you practise active listening and stay present during the interaction? Did you struggle to stay present at all? What thoughts, sensations, emotions did you experience during this conversation?
Closing Thoughts
Incorporating journaling into your DBT mindfulness practice can deepen self-awareness, enhance emotional regulation, and foster interpersonal growth.
By regularly engaging with these journal prompts and integrating mindfulness into your daily life, you can become even more empowered to navigate life’s challenges with greater resilience and wisdom. Remember, the journey towards wise mind living is ongoing, and each moment offers an opportunity for growth and transformation.
Embrace the journey, one mindful step at a time.
You Might Like: The Little Guide to DBT Mindfulness Skills
Throughout my year in therapy, I crafted a guide to the core skills that underlie all of DBT: DBT Mindfulness Skills. My guide is only a few pounds/dollars, and goes beyond the basic clinical point of view, offering you a personalised guide enriched by real-life examples from my own journey with DBT and the core skills.
Available for instant download today.
DBT Journaling Mindfulness FAQs
Is it possible to do DBT by yourself?
As I covered in my Can You Do DBT Alone? guide, DBT self-study can be a valuable supplement to therapy and option for those without access to professional DBT training. However, self-study does not directly replace a tailored intervention from a professional mental health team or practitioner. Learn more in my guide.
What is a DBT journal?
A DBT journal is a tool used to practice and integrate Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills into daily life. It typically includes mindfulness exercises, journal prompts, and reflections on emotions, thoughts, and behaviours.
Is journaling CBT or DBT?
Journaling can be used in both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) as a way to track thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, but in this context, it’s specifically focused on integrating DBT mindfulness skills into self-reflection and exploration.
What are the 4 pillars of DBT therapy?
The four pillars of DBT therapy are mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance. These pillars provide a comprehensive framework for individuals to develop skills for managing emotions, improving relationships, and coping with distress effectively.
Eliza Blooms 
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