DBT Skills Through Music
Make Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills easier to learn, remember, and use.
Get Tools That Fit Your Role:
Songs, music activities, and practical resources for clinicians, group leaders, and people learning DBT.
Choose the path that's right for you:
(No musical experience required)
Grab Your FREE DBT Mindfulness Flashcards!
With DBT Music You Can:
Make DBT skills easier to remember
Give learners another way to experience and practice the skills
Bring variety and engagement to skills training
Help DBT skills carry into everyday life
"These songs and lessons are so helpful! It's helped me remember the skills when I needed them most." JC
What is DBT?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based therapy model and set of personal growth skills to help people manage emotions, respond rather than react, and build balanced, fulfilling lives.
See the Tools in Action:
Hear and see how music can be used to reinforce DBT skills through mindfulness experiences, songs, and practical activities.
Mindfulness Experience
Mindfulness
.... is at the core of DBT. Each skill lesson begins with a mindfulness experience.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness can bring your awareness to the moment. Paying attention on purpose.
Alice is facilitating a mindfulness activity in this video.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
In online conversations on social media, sometimes posts can get heated. Instead of diving head-on into an argument, the skill called DEAR MAN can be utilized for effective communication.
This is a formula for asking for what you want or saying no to what you don’t want. It’s a DBT skill, which Bailey is teaching here through song.
DEAR MAN
The What Skills
Have you ever been triggered by something or someone, and before you even know it you’re reacting? Maybe you yell or do something else you later regret…
I know we all have.
These impulsive behaviors come from the emotion mind. This song reviews the 3 states of mind. Reasonable, emotional, and wise. And demonstrates the what skills of observe, describe and participate.
States of Mind
This song by Stephen helps strengthen the learning of the 3 States of Mind –
Reasonable Mind
Emotion Mind
Wise mind.
🎵 Bring DBT skills to life in a way that’s engaging, memorable, and easy to implement.
Want access to tools like these?
Choose the resources that fit your role, whether you’re a clinician or group leader, or using DBT skills for yourself.
.No Musical Talent? No Problem.
Our ready-to-use tools work whether you’re musically trained or not. Everything you need is provided, so you can start right away.
Why Music?
Music is engaging, memorable, and effective at reinforcing learning.
Whether you're in a DBT program or simply want to build healthier habits, music-based DBT resources make skills more accessible and enjoyable.
Prefer a Book?
Explore Deborah Spiegel’s DBT + music resources for clinicians, educators, and people using DBT skills.
Creative DBT Activities Using Music : Interventions for Enhancing Engagement and Effectiveness in Therapy (Jessica Kingsley 2020) 📚 [Get the Book]
This book presents you with a variety of ways to utilize DBT skills with music. It offers tangible assignments that the client can take home and do on their own, or the therapist can use in sessions. No musical background is required to successfully use the activities.
"As a psychologist and life-long musician I've always wanted to better synthesize these two passions to help my patients. Spiegel, Makary, and Bonavitacola, show me (and now you) many effective and practical ways to creatively weave music into DBT! You do not need to be a musician or a psychologist to find these therapeutic activities immediately applicable to your patients, students, and colleagues who are practicing DBT.
Alec L. Miller, PsyD
Creative DBT Activities for Children Using Music : (Jessica Kingsley 2025)
Musical DBT-informed activities that equip educators, therapists, and parents with tools to reach the social and emotional needs of children through fresh and creative activities.
"A great resource for any skills teaching program introducing DBT to younger children. The musical activities have been imaginatively linked to DBT skills helping to make the concepts accessible to younger minds. Each chapter includes a session plan, suggested adaptations and links to supporting resources for flexible use."
Stephanie Hastings PhD, Co-Deputy Director PG Dip DBT, Bangor University
Need a DBT-Informed Music Therapist?
Board-certified music therapists with specialized training in DBT are available for individual sessions, group facilitation, and team consultation.
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