4 DBT & BPD Mood Diary Card Templates & Trackers [PDF]

If you’ve ever felt like emotions were a roller-coaster you just couldn’t get off, you’re not alone. One incredible tool on my recovery journey has been the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) diary card, or what you may call a BPD mood diary tracker.

These valuable worksheets provide a structured way to track and understand intense feelings, offering a roadmap to navigate through them with a bit more clarity.

In this article, we’ll explore four BPD & DBT mood diary templates and skills trackers, providing valuable resources for those navigating BPD recovery and DBT therapy. I’ve also put together four simple but visually-appealing mood diary and skills tracker PDF files, available for free download for you to start using today!

Using Mood Diary Cards For BPD and DBT

Living with BPD or C-PTSD often involves navigating intense and rapidly shifting emotions, making it crucial to have effective tools for managing these fluctuations. Mood diary trackers are particularly beneficial for individuals in DBT treatment for disorders like these, as they provide a structured way to monitor and understand emotional patterns. 

Incorporating mood diary trackers into DBT therapy can significantly enhance the effectiveness of treatment by providing individuals with valuable insights, tools, and support for managing emotions. By embracing this proactive approach to emotional regulation, individuals with BPD can cultivate greater self-awareness, resilience, and empowerment on journeys towards healing and recovery.

Benefits of Mood Diary Trackers For BPD & DBT

• Understanding Emotional Patterns: One of the primary benefits of using mood diary trackers for BPD is gaining insight into emotional patterns. BPD is characterised by intense emotional experiences, including feelings of abandonment, anger, and emptiness. By consistently tracking moods throughout the day, individuals can better identify recurring emotional triggers, mood instability and fluctuations.
• Identifying Triggers and Vulnerabilities: Mood diary trackers also assist individuals in identifying triggers and vulnerabilities that contribute to emotional dysregulation. Whether it’s a specific situation, interaction, or thought pattern, recognizing triggers is essential for implementing effective coping strategies.
• Applying DBT Skills: Integrating mood diary trackers into DBT therapy enhances the application of DBT skills in real-life situations. DBT teaches individuals a range of coping skills, including mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. By tracking moods alongside the use of DBT skills, individuals can assess the effectiveness of these techniques in managing distressing emotions.
• Enhancing Self-Awareness and Accountability: Regularly using mood diary trackers fosters self-awareness and accountability, key components of BPD and DBT therapy. By actively monitoring emotional experiences, we can become more attuned to our inner state, allowing us to intervene proactively when they notice signs of distress.
• Cultivating a Sense of Control: Ultimately, mood diary trackers empower individuals with BPD to take more control of our emotional well-being. While BPD can feel overwhelming at times, the structured approach provided by mood diary trackers offers a sense of agency and direction. 

Challenges of Standard DBT Diary Cards

If you’ve ever seen the standard DBT mood diary and skills tracker worksheet, you’ll know how difficult it is to understand. While mood diary trackers can be invaluable tools, standard DBT mood diaries often present unique challenges that can hinder their effectiveness. 

Here’s a quick example to illustrate: 

As you can see, standard DBT mood diary templates can be difficult to navigate due to their complex design—and just plain boring and unengaging to look at. It all feels very clinical.

With multiple sections and intricate layouts, individuals may struggle to understand how to use the diary effectively. This complexity can deter users from consistently engaging with the diary, limiting its potential benefits.

Additionally, many standard DBT mood diaries lack visual appeal, featuring plain and uninspiring designs. This lack of aesthetic appeal can make the diary feel clinical or impersonal, reducing motivation for individuals to engage with it regularly. Without visual stimulation, users may find it challenging to stay engaged with the tracking process. 

What is a DBT Mood Diary Tracker?

A DBT mood diary tracker is a tool used to monitor and track emotions, behaviours, and triggers throughout the day. It allows individuals to identify patterns and trends in mood fluctuations, helping us gain deeper insight into our emotional experiences.

Your DBT Mood Diary Tracker Worksheet

To use a DBT mood diary tracker worksheet effectively, you simply fill it out regularly, recording your current mood, any significant events or triggers, and the skills used to cope with difficult emotions. By consistently tracking emotions, it is possible to better understand triggers and develop coping strategies to manage intense feelings.

What is a DBT Skills Tracker?

A DBT skills tracker is a tool designed to monitor the use and effectiveness of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy skills in daily life. It helps you track progress in implementing DBT skills, the frequency of skills practice, and how effective the skills were in the moment.

Your DBT Skills Tracker Worksheet

Similar to the mood diary tracker, individuals can use a DBT skills tracker by regularly recording the skills they practised and how often they used them throughout the week. By tracking the use of DBT skills, you can identify which techniques are most helpful for you and reinforce their use in times of distress.

What is a DBT Skills Diary?

A DBT skills diary is a tool used to reflect on the application of DBT skills in various situations. It allows us to get a closer look at our use of skills and how frequently we are practising them, see areas of growth, identify areas for improvement, and set goals for future skill development.

Your DBT Skills Diary Worksheet

To use a DBT skills diary tracker worksheet effectively, you can review your daily experiences, noting instances where they applied DBT skills, as well as situations where you struggled to implement them. By reflecting on your use of skills, you can gain insight into progress and identify opportunities for growth.

What is a DBT Mindfulness Skills Diary?

A DBT mindfulness skills diary is a tool used to track the practice of mindfulness techniques, such as non-judgmental observation, Wise Mind, and paced breathing exercises. It helps us to cultivate present-moment awareness and reduce emotional reactivity, seeing reality as it is. 

Your DBT Mindfulness Skills Diary Worksheet

You can use a DBT mindfulness skills diary like the one below (or a DBT mindfulness journaling practice) to record any daily mindfulness practice, including the duration and type of exercises performed. By tracking your mindfulness activities, you can monitor your progress in developing mindfulness skills and reap the benefits of increased emotional regulation and stress reduction.

Closing Thoughts

In conclusion, BPD & DBT mood diary cards and skills trackers are valuable resources for those of us seeking to manage our emotions and improve our mental well-being. By utilising these tools, we can gain a much deeper insight into our emotional experiences, tracking our progress in implementing DBT skills, and cultivating mindfulness practices to enhance emotional regulation. 

The provided PDF templates offer a convenient way to incorporate these tools into daily life, empowering you to take control of your mental health journey. Start tracking your emotions and building DBT skills today with these helpful free resources.

Love these free resources? You may also like my Little Guide to DBT Mindfulness Skills! Available for instant download now.

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.