DBT Improve Skill
The DBT IMPROVE skill gives you seven ways to make a painful moment more bearable when you cannot fix it right away. Learn each letter, then build a plan that fits your life.
When you cannot fix it right now
Some painful moments cannot be solved on the spot: waiting for test results, sitting with grief, getting through a workday after terrible news. The pain is real, and no amount of problem-solving will end it today. IMPROVE is a distress tolerance skill from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Each letter is a different way to make the moment more bearable. Not perfect, just more livable, until the situation changes or the pain softens.
The seven letters
Imagery: Picture a place where you feel safe and calm, or imagine yourself handling this situation well. Meaning: Look for something this pain connects to. What does it say about what you love, or what could it teach you? Prayer: Connect with something larger than yourself, in whatever form fits your beliefs, and ask for strength to bear this moment. Relaxation: Calm your body on purpose. Try a warm shower, slow stretching, a heavy blanket, or releasing your shoulders and jaw. One thing in the moment: Put your full attention on exactly what you are doing right now, one task or one breath at a time. Vacation: Give yourself a brief, deliberate break. Twenty minutes in the park, a coffee alone, one episode of a comfort show. Then come back. Encouragement: Talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend going through this. Say it kindly and say it plainly.
A note on support
IMPROVE is for getting through pain, and it works best when you also have people helping you carry it: a therapist, a group, or someone you trust. If the pain ever grows into thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988 in the US to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
The moment you are getting through
In a sentence or two, what is the hard situation you cannot fix right now?
How heavy it feels
Rate how hard this moment feels right now.
Letters you have tried
Check every IMPROVE skill you have already tried for this situation, or the ones you want to try today.
Build your plan
Pick the two or three letters that fit you best. For each one, write exactly what you will do, where, and for how long. Specific beats vague.
Your encouragement line
Write one sentence you will say to yourself when the moment gets heavy. Make it something you would believe coming from a friend.
What did you notice
After trying at least one skill, come back and reflect.
Fewer clicks. More care.
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