162 The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook
Notice judgments (about self, others, or the emotion itself) and let them go. Use
“leaves on a stream” or other image. Watch the emotion; emotions are like waves on the sea. Remind yourself that you have a right to your feelings. Continue to notice and let go of judgments. Finish with three minutes of mindful breathing.EMOTION ExPOSuRE
Facing your emotions instead of avoiding them is a major goal of dialectical behavior therapy.
Emotion exposure helps you develop the capacity to accept feelings and be less afraid of them.
Step 1 is to begin keeping an Emotion Log so you can become more aware of specific emo-
tional events and how you cope with them. For the next week, keep a record in your Emotion Log
for every significant emotion you experience. Under “Event,” write down what precipitated your
feeling. Triggering events could be internal—a thought, memory, or another feeling—or they could
be external, something you or someone else said or did. Under “Emotion,” write a word or phrase
that sums up your feeling. Under “Coping or Blocking Response,” write what you did to try to
push the emotion away. Did you try to suppress or hide it? Did you act on it by picking a fight or
avoiding something scary? This record of your coping or blocking response will help you identify
emotions for doing emotion exposure later in this chapter.
example: emotion log
Linda, who had been struggling with anger and feelings of rejection, kept the following
Emotion Log during the week before Christmas. Neither of her divorced parents had invited her
for the holiday.