The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anxiety: Breaking Free from Worry, Panic, PTSD, and Other Anxiety Symptoms

If you have an anxiety disorder or experience anxiety symptoms that interfere with your day-to-day life, you can benefit from learning four simple skills that therapists use with their clients. These easy-to-learn skills are at the heart of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a cutting-edge therapeutic approach that can help you better manage the panic attacks, worries, and fears that limit your life and keep you feeling stuck.

This book will help you learn these four powerful skills:

• Mindfulness helps you connect with the present moment and notice passing thoughts and feelings without being ruled by them.
• Acceptance skills foster self-compassion and a nonjudgmental stance toward your emotions and worries.
• Interpersonal effectiveness skills help you assert your needs in order to build more fulfilling relationships with others.
• Emotion regulation skills help you manage anxiety and fear before they get out of control.

In The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anxiety, you’ll learn how to use each of these skills to manage your anxiety, worry, and stress. By combining simple, straightforward instruction in the use of these skills with a variety of practical exercises, this workbook will help you overcome your anxiety and move forward in your life.

This book has been awarded The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Seal of Merit — an award bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.

Alexander L. Chapman, PhD, is associate professor in the department of psychology at Simon Fraser University, a practicing registered psychologist, and president of the DBT Centre of Vancouver. He has published numerous articles and chapters on dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), trains professionals and students in DBT, and has coauthored books on behavior therapy, borderline personality disorder, and self-harm. In 2007, Chapman received a Young Investigator’s Award from the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder. In 2011, he received a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Award to support his work on borderline personality disorder, as well as a Canadian Psychological Association Early Career Scientist Practitioner Award for his work integrating research and treatment in DBT.

Kim L. Gratz, PhD, is associate professor in the department of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where she serves as director of the dialectical behavior therapy clinic and director of personality disorders research. In 2005, Gratz received a Young Investigator’s Award from the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder. She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on borderline personality disorder, deliberate self-harm, and emotion regulation, and is coauthor of The Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide and Freedom from Self-Harm.

Matthew T. Tull, PhD, is associate professor and director of anxiety disorders research in the department of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He has published numerous articles and chapters on emotion regulation and anxiety disorders, with a particular emphasis on panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. He received the Chaim and Bela Danieli Young Professional Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in 2009, and the 2010 President’s New Researcher Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies for his research on post-traumatic stress disorder.

Foreword writer Terence M. Keane, PhD, is associate chief of staff for research and development and director of the behavioral sciences division of the National Center for PTSD at the VA Boston Healthcare System. He is also currently president of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.