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General CBT Skills~15 min

Emotion Regulation Skills

A practical CBT skills worksheet for working with strong emotions, drawing on DBT-style strategies. It follows three steps - identify the emotion, understand what is driving it, and choose a skill to help it settle - so that you can respond to difficult feelings on purpose rather than being swept along by them.

Written by Tarun Vermani, Trainee Clinical Psychologist Last reviewed

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A skills-building tool for emotions in the tolerable-to-moderate range. It is NOT a crisis or self-harm management tool. If a client's action urges include harming themselves, or they feel unsafe or unable to keep themselves safe, this worksheet is not the right resource in that moment: they should turn to their agreed crisis or safety plan and contact their therapist, their GP, or emergency services (call 999), or the Samaritans free at any time on 116 123. Make sure any client using this between sessions knows that and has a crisis plan in place first. A note on the skills list: 'opposite action' means acting against an unhelpful urge that does not fit the facts or your goals (for example, approaching rather than avoiding when fear is out of proportion). It is not about overriding genuine needs - ordinary, restorative rest or stepping away to recover are not urges to be resisted. 'Decentring' here means stepping back and creating a little distance from the emotion, observing it as a passing event rather than a fact about you. Help clients pick one or two skills to practise rather than all of them at once. Around 15 minutes.

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Name the emotion

Putting a word to what you are feeling is itself a first step in regulating it. Naming an emotion gives you a little space to work with it.

Barely thereModerateAs intense as I can imagine
Choose a value

Understand what is driving it

Emotions usually make sense once we see what set them off and how we read the situation. The same event can spark very different feelings depending on the meaning we give it.

Body cues and action urges

Emotions show up in the body and push us toward action. Noticing both - without acting straight away - helps you stay in choice.

Choose and apply a skill

Pick one or two skills to try now. There is no single right choice - different skills suit different emotions and moments. The aim is to help the feeling settle enough that you can choose how to respond.

Which skill or skills will you try?

Let the emotion rise and fall

Emotions are like waves: they build, peak, and pass if we let them. 'Urge surfing' means riding that wave - staying with the feeling and the urge without acting on it immediately - and noticing that it eases on its own.

Review

Take a moment to notice what helped, so you can build on it next time.

Barely thereModerateAs intense as I can imagine
Choose a value

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When to use ‘Emotion Regulation Skills’

‘Emotion Regulation Skills’ is an interactive cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) worksheet. As a core CBT skill it is used right across the model, with presentations including depression, anxiety, OCD, trauma and low self-esteem, rather than being tied to a single diagnosis.

It is designed to be used within therapy rather than as a standalone self-help tool: a therapist introduces it, works through it collaboratively, and helps make sense of what it surfaces. You can preview the full worksheet above, then assign it digitally for clients to complete between sessions on any device — or download it as a print-ready PDF.

How it works

Most people work through it in around 15 minutes. It moves through six short steps:

  1. Name the emotion — Putting a word to what you are feeling is itself a first step in regulating it. Naming an emotion gives you a little space to work with it.
  2. Understand what is driving it — Emotions usually make sense once we see what set them off and how we read the situation. The same event can spark very different feelings…
  3. Body cues and action urges — Emotions show up in the body and push us toward action. Noticing both - without acting straight away - helps you stay in choice.
  4. Choose and apply a skill — Pick one or two skills to try now. There is no single right choice - different skills suit different emotions and moments. The aim is to…
  5. Let the emotion rise and fall — Emotions are like waves: they build, peak, and pass if we let them. 'Urge surfing' means riding that wave - staying with the feeling and…
  6. Review — Take a moment to notice what helped, so you can build on it next time.

Completed on the Formulate platform, your client's answers are saved automatically and shared straight back to you, so you can review them before the next session rather than waiting for a paper copy to come back.

The CBT approach behind it

In common with other CBT methods, ‘Emotion Regulation Skills’ works by building practical skills to manage difficult thoughts and feelings in the moment. The aim is not positive thinking but a clearer, shared understanding of what keeps a difficulty going — and practical, testable ways to change it.

Because it is a CBT tool it stays focused on the here-and-now links between thoughts, feelings, the body and behaviour, and it works best as one part of a wider course of therapy rather than as advice or a diagnosis.

Evidence & sources

This worksheet is grounded in established cognitive behavioural therapy theory and practice. Key sources include:

  • Linehan, M.M. (2015). DBT Skills Training Manual (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
  • Gross, J.J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271-299.

For use alongside professional support

Formulate provides educational CBT resources for use with a qualified therapist. They are not a substitute for professional assessment, diagnosis, or crisis care.

If you need urgent help now:

  • Emergency services: 999 — if you or someone else is in immediate danger
  • Samaritans: 116 123 — free, day or night, 365 days a year
  • SANEline: 0800 689 5555 — 4:30pm–10:30pm, every day

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