Opposite Actions
June 19, 2023
When we experience an emotion, there is often a behavioral urge that comes along with it. When we feel angry, we may have the urge to yell or break things or hurt someone. When we feel sad, we may have the urge to isolate ourselves or lay in bed all day.
Often, these behavioral urges can keep us stuck in that emotion or even make it stronger. In Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), there is a concept that helps with emotional regulation called “opposite action.” The idea is to do the opposite behavior of what our urges tell us to do in an effort to also change our emotion.
The visual pictured and linked below provides examples.
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