Surviving the Holidays with DBT Skills: Your Seasonal Stress Toolkit

The holiday season is often portrayed as joyful and heartwarming—but for many people, it brings holiday stress, family conflict, emotional overwhelm, anxiety, depression, and burnout. If this time of year feels heavy, you’re not alone.

As a DBT therapist, I often see clients struggle with intensified emotions and complex family dynamics between November and January. The good news is that Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) offers practical, evidence-based skills to help you regulate emotions, communicate clearly, and stay grounded through the most difficult parts of the holidays.

This guide will walk you through how to use DBT skills for holiday stress, DBT coping skills, and mindfulness techniques to support your mental health this season.

Why the Holidays Can Feel So Overwhelming

Many people experience increased emotional vulnerability during the holidays. Common triggers include:

• Family conflict or unhealthy dynamics

• Grief and loss during the holidays

• Financial stress and gift-giving pressure

• Changes in routine affecting mood regulation

• Social exhaustion or loneliness

• Expectations to “be happy” despite struggling

These stressors can intensify symptoms of BPD, anxiety, depression, trauma responses, and emotion dysregulation, making DBT skills especially useful this time of year.

1. Mindfulness: Stay Grounded in the Present Moment

Mindfulness is one of the core DBT skills and is especially helpful when emotions or holiday expectations feel overwhelming.

Try using:

• DBT “What” skills (Observe, Describe, Participate)

• Five-senses grounding for anxiety

• Mindful breathing before responding

• Nonjudgmental awareness during family interactions

Mindfulness interrupts emotional spirals and helps you respond instead of react.

2. Distress Tolerance: Survive Intense Holiday Moments

When emotions peak—whether due to conflict, overstimulation, or grief—DBT Distress Tolerance skills offer immediate relief.

Use:

• TIPP skills to reduce emotional intensity

• ACCEPTS for mindful distraction

• Self-soothing using sensory grounding

• Radical Acceptance for situations you cannot change

• Pros and Cons when deciding whether to stay or leave a stressful situation

These DBT skills prevent impulsive decisions and help you get through difficult moments without making things worse.

3. Emotion Regulation: Reduce Vulnerability to Holiday Stress

The holidays often disrupt routines that support emotional stability. DBT Emotion Regulation skills help you rebuild a sense of emotional balance.

Try:

• PLEASE skills to manage physical factors that intensify emotions

• Opposite Action for emotions like fear, shame, or loneliness

• Building positive experiences (small or large) throughout the season

• Checking the facts when emotions feel disproportionate or overwhelming

Emotion Regulation increases resilience and makes it easier to handle seasonal stressors.

4. Interpersonal Effectiveness: Boundaries & Communication During the Holidays

Family gatherings often bring up old patterns and tension. DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness skills help you communicate clearly while protecting your emotional well-being.

Use:

• DEAR MAN to ask for what you need or set limits

• GIVE to maintain healthy relationships

• FAST to protect your self-respect and values

• Boundary-setting scripts for difficult relatives

• Saying no without guilt when you are overwhelmed or overcommitted

Healthy boundaries are DBT in action—and they’re essential during the holiday season.

A DBT-Informed Holiday Plan

Here are some questions to help you create a DBT coping plan for holiday stress:

• What are my emotion triggers this time of year?

• What DBT skills help me calm down or feel grounded?

• What boundaries do I need to set with family or work?

• Who can I reach out to for social support?

• How can I practice self-compassion during moments of guilt, grief, or overwhelm?

• What routines help me reduce vulnerability (PLEASE skills)?

A plan helps you respond intentionally rather than emotionally.

If the holidays feel stressful, overwhelming, or emotionally exhausting, it makes sense. Many people struggle this time of year—especially those dealing with emotion dysregulation, BPD, trauma, ADHD, anxiety, or depression.

DBT offers a compassionate, evidence-based roadmap for navigating these challenges. With skills like mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness, you can create a holiday season that feels calmer, more grounded, and aligned with your values.

If you’re interested in DBT therapy, DBT skills groups, or working with a Linehan Board Certified DBT therapist in Pennsylvania, support is available.

Radical Acceptance in DBT: What It Is, Why It’s Hard, and How It Helps You Heal

Understanding Radical Acceptance

Radical Acceptance is one of the most transformative and yet challenging skills in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). At its core, Radical Acceptance means acknowledging reality fully, without judgment, even when reality is painful, unfair, or not what you wanted. It’s not approval. It’s not agreement. It’s simply accepting that this is what’s happening right now.

When clients begin DBT, Radical Acceptance often feels impossible. Many are living with intense emotions, trauma histories, invalidating environments, and ongoing stress. Pushing away pain feels easier in the moment. But over time, resisting reality creates more suffering and leads to emotional overwhelm, relationship conflict, shame, and behaviors like avoidance, shutting down, or self-harm.

Radical Acceptance offers a path out of that suffering.

What Radical Acceptance Is Not

Because the phrase “Radical Acceptance” can sound intimidating, it’s helpful to clarify what it doesn’t mean:

• It’s not saying the situation is “okay.”

• It’s not giving up.

• It’s not minimizing your hurt.

• It’s not forgiveness (though it can make forgiveness possible).

• It’s not letting someone off the hook.

Radical Acceptance doesn’t erase the past, and it doesn’t mean you have to stay in harmful situations. It simply frees you from the extra suffering that comes from fighting reality.

Why Radical Acceptance Is So Difficult

For many people, especially those with intense emotions or traumatic experiences, accepting reality feels threatening. Our minds want to:

• Rewrite what happened

• Fight what’s happening

• Blame ourselves

• Blame others

• Hold tightly to what “should” or “shouldn’t” be

These reactions are completely human. They’re protective. But they also keep us stuck.

DBT teaches that pain is unavoidable, but suffering is created when we refuse to accept reality as it is. Radical Acceptance helps you step out of that cycle and into a place where change becomes possible.

What Radical Acceptance Looks Like in Practice

In therapy, learning Radical Acceptance involves three layers:

1. Accepting the facts of the situation

“What happened did happen.”
This includes accepting your thoughts, feelings, memories, and sensations even the ones you wish weren’t there.

2. Letting go of judgment and “shoulds”

Reality doesn’t obey our rules.
Dropping “it shouldn’t be this way” helps reduce the intensity of emotional pain.

3. Opening your mind, body, and behavior

Radical Acceptance is expressed through:

• Relaxed muscles

• Slowed breathing

• Willingness instead of willfulness

• Turning toward the present moment

This alignment helps your body “catch up” to what your mind is trying to accept.

Examples of Radical Acceptance

• Accepting that someone you care about cannot change the way you hoped

• Accepting that a breakup happened even when the relationship was meaningful

• Accepting a diagnosis, a loss, a boundary, or the end of something important

• Accepting your own emotional responses without shame

• Acceptance doesn’t cancel out grief—it simply makes space for it.

How Radical Acceptance Reduces Suffering

Radical Acceptance lowers emotional reactivity and increases your capacity to respond effectively. Once you stop fighting reality, you can:

• Problem-solve where possible

• Set boundaries

• Make intentional choices

• Access compassion for yourself and others

• Move forward, instead of staying stuck in resentment or regret

It’s a cornerstone of DBT because it creates the foundation for long-term change.

How Radical Acceptance Fits Into DBT Treatment

In DBT, Radical Acceptance lives within the Distress Tolerance module. It’s especially helpful for:

• Moments when emotions are overwhelming

• Situations that cannot be changed immediately

• Crises where your goal is simply to survive without making things worse

• Long-term healing after trauma, loss, or invalidation

For clients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Radical Acceptance is often life changing. Many have spent years fighting emotions, memories, or realities they never asked for. Acceptance becomes the first step toward rebuilding trust in themselves and their future.

Practicing Radical Acceptance Daily

Here are small ways to begin:

• Notice and label judgments

• Use half-smile and willing hands

• Practice mindfulness of breath

• Repeat acceptance statements (“This is where I am right now”)

• Identify what’s in your control and what isn’t

• Offer yourself compassion for how hard acceptance can be

Remember: Radical Acceptance is a skill you build over time. You don’t have to accept everything all at once, just this moment.

When Radical Acceptance Becomes Empowering

Most people imagine acceptance will make them weaker. The opposite is true. When you radically accept reality, you reclaim your energy, your clarity, and your ability to choose.

Acceptance doesn’t erase pain, but it frees you from the suffering that comes from fighting the truth.

What are you struggling to accept?

Adherent vs. Non-Adherent DBT: Understanding the Difference

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is one of the most effective, research-supported treatments for emotion dysregulation, suicidal ideation, chronic self-harm, and borderline personality disorder. But not all DBT services are created equal. Understanding the difference between adherent DBT and non-adherent (or DBT-informed) treatment is essential for choosing the right level of support.

At The DBT Center of Pennsylvania, we specialize in adherent, evidence-based DBT so clients receive the most effective treatment available.

What Is Adherent DBT?

Adherent DBT refers to the full, research-backed DBT model developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan. To be considered clinically “adherent,” a DBT program must include all core components proven effective in clinical trials.

Key Features of Adherent DBT

• Weekly Individual DBT Therapy
  Structured sessions focused on behavior analysis, treatment targets, and skill development.

• Weekly DBT Skills Group
  A classroom-style group teaching core DBT skills: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness.

• Phone Coaching
  Real-time guidance for using skills during moments of distress which is an essential part of effective DBT.

• DBT Consultation Team
  Therapists meet weekly with a DBT team to maintain fidelity to the model and reduce burnout.

• Structured Treatment Targets
  Life threatening behaviors → Therapy interfering behaviors → Quality-of-life interfering behaviors → Skill acquisition.

• Adherence Monitoring
  Involves supervision, adherence coding, or review by trained DBT experts.

What Is Non-Adherent (DBT-Informed) Treatment?

Non-adherent DBT which is sometimes called “DBT informed therapy” uses skills, worksheets, or concepts from DBT but does not follow the full protocol.

Characteristics of Non-Adherent DBT

• No phone coaching

• No DBT consultation team

• No weekly skills group

• Less structured individual therapy

• Skills offered without behavior analysis

• No adherence monitoring

• Often combined with other therapy styles

Non-adherent DBT can still be useful for clients who want to learn DBT skills or who need additional tools but do not require the intensity of a full DBT program.

How to Tell If a Provider Offers Adherent DBT

When searching for a DBT therapist in Pennsylvania, DBT Philadelphia, or DBT Delaware County, here are helpful questions to ask:

• Do you offer the full DBT model (individual therapy, skills group, phone coaching, consultation team)?

• Have you completed intensive DBT training or Linehan Board Certification?

• Do you use diary cards and behavior chain analysis?

• Do you receive supervision or adherence coding?

• Does your practice follow Dr. Marsha Linehan’s research-based structure?

Clinicians offering adherent DBT should be transparent about their training and the structure of their program.

Why Adherence Matters

Research consistently shows that adherent DBT leads to better outcomes, especially for individuals with chronic emotion dysregulation or high risk behaviors. The full model is what has been tested in clinical research, not piecemeal or modified versions.

For individuals seeking the strongest, most reliable treatment outcomes, adherent DBT is the gold standard.

Interested in Adherent DBT in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, or Idaho?

The DBT Center of Pennsylvania provides fully adherent, adult-focused, virtual DBT services across PA, VA, DE, and ID. Our clinicians are DBT trained, and our lead therapist is currently the only Linehan Board-Certified Clinician in Delaware County.

If you’d like support determining which level of DBT is right for you, you can reach out anytime through our contact page.