DBT Diary Card

The DBT Diary Card is a structured daily Activity used in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) to help patients monitor their emotions, behaviours, urges, and skill use over time. It supports accountability, builds insight, and facilitates more targeted therapy sessions.

🧠 What It Tracks

Each daily Diary Card prompts patients to:

• Rate emotions and urges (e.g. anger, sadness, self-harm urges)

• Track behaviours (e.g. safety risks, substance use)

• Record skills used from the DBT skill sets:

  • Mindfulness

  • Distress Tolerance

  • Emotion Regulation

  • Interpersonal Effectiveness

📲 Patient Experience

• Patients complete the Diary Card once per day via the mobile app or web portal.

• Submissions are locked for that day after entry to preserve reflection integrity.

• Patients can view a history of past entries to track progress over time.

👀 Team Member Access

• Team Members can view each entry via the Activities section of the patient profile.

• Submissions are displayed in a table format to help identify patterns, triggers, and skill gaps.

• The Diary Card is a powerful tool to inform weekly DBT sessions and guide coaching.

🧭 Use Cases

• Monitoring risk and safety

• Reinforcing skill practice

• Tracking mood and behaviour trends

• Enhancing DBT individual or group therapy outcomes