Naming Emotions - A DBT Skill

Naming our emotions is a powerful tool for self-awareness and communication, especially when using the “Naming Emotions DBT skill.” It all starts with being able to recognize and label what we’re feeling. When we can put a name to our emotions, it helps us express them more clearly to others and can even reduce the intensity of negative feelings.

Learning to identify emotions is something anyone can practice. It’s not just about putting a label on how we feel—it’s about becoming more in tune with our emotions, which allows us to experience them more healthily. Emotions serve a purpose: they tell us what’s going on inside, help us communicate with others, and prepare us to take action.

Think about emotions in broad categories, like anger, sadness, fear, happiness, and love. For example, under the umbrella of anger, there are more specific feelings like annoyance, frustration, or full-blown rage. If we realize we’re just annoyed rather than furious, we’re likely to react in a much calmer way.

In DBT, the goal is to change how we handle our emotions. By learning to identify what we’re feeling using the Naming Emotions DBT skill, we get better at managing those emotions—feeling more of the good ones and less of the overwhelming ones. It all starts with simply naming the emotion.