What Is Understanding and Naming Emotions in DBT? How to Identify What You Feel
Understanding and Naming Emotions is a DBT emotion regulation skill where you learn to identify what you are feeling and what the emotion is doing for you, because an emotion you can name is one you can begin to manage. At DBT Path, the original online DBT skills class taught online since 2013, you learn Understanding and Naming Emotions so that overwhelming feelings become clearer and more workable, because naming an emotion is the first step to changing your relationship with it.
When feelings are a blur, they run the show. When you can name them, you get a say.
How to practice Understanding and Naming Emotions
This skill builds emotional literacy, the ability to notice, label, and understand what is happening inside you.
Notice the prompting event
Start with what happened. Identify the event that set the emotion off, whether it was something outside you or a thought or memory inside you.
Describe the body sensations and urges
Notice what the emotion feels like in your body and what it makes you want to do. A racing heart and an urge to flee point toward fear, while heat and an urge to lash out point toward anger.
Name the emotion
Put a specific word to it. Move beyond good or bad toward words like sadness, shame, fear, anger, guilt, jealousy, or joy. The more precise the label, the more useful it is.
Understand what the emotion is for
Every emotion has a function. Fear protects you, anger signals a boundary, sadness honors a loss. Understanding the purpose helps you respond to the emotion instead of just reacting.
When to use it
Use Understanding and Naming Emotions whenever you feel flooded, numb, or confused about what you are experiencing. It is the foundation for nearly every other emotion regulation skill, because you cannot check the facts or act opposite to an emotion you have not yet named.
How DBT Path teaches it
At DBT Path, you learn this skill in live, online classes led by founder Debbie DeMarco Bennett and Dr. Kathryn Holt, the same two teachers every week. Every week you also receive personalized written feedback on your skills practice from a trained DBT Path team member, so you can learn to name your own emotions with growing confidence. It is one part of the full DBT curriculum: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. You can explore the online DBT classes or related skills like Check the Facts and Opposite Action. The approach is grounded in standard DBT as developed in Marsha Linehan’s research.
Frequently asked questions
What is Understanding and Naming Emotions in DBT?
Understanding and Naming Emotions is a DBT emotion regulation skill for identifying what you feel and what the emotion does for you. DBT Path teaches it as noticing the prompting event, describing body sensations and urges, naming the emotion, and understanding its function.
Why is naming an emotion helpful?
Naming an emotion creates a little distance from it and makes it easier to choose a response. At DBT Path you learn that a feeling you can label is one you can begin to understand and manage.
What if I cannot tell what I am feeling?
That is common, and it is a skill that grows with practice. DBT Path teaches you to work backward from the event, your body sensations, and your urges to identify the emotion underneath.
Is Understanding and Naming Emotions a real DBT skill?
Yes. Understanding and Naming Emotions is a standard emotion regulation skill in DBT, and DBT Path teaches it as part of the full evidence-based curriculum.
Ready to learn DBT skills with support? Explore the online DBT classes at DBT Path and join a welcoming class taught by the same teachers every week.