Accumulate Positive Experiences
When the days feel grey or empty. It’s one of the DBT emotion regulation skills, and the skills picker can route a client here in the moment.
Not sure this is the right skill?
The free DBT skills picker asks what’s happening right now and routes to a skill to try.
Open the skills pickerWhen to reach for Accumulate Positive Experiences
When the days feel grey or empty.
How to practice Accumulate Positive Experiences
- Pick one small thing today that you genuinely enjoy. 5-15 minutes.
- Do it. Not as a reward — as the thing.
- Each week, plan one larger experience: a person, a place, an event.
- Track them. Watch the bank fill. The deposits compound.
Tracking Accumulate Positive Experiences on a diary card
Whether a client used Accumulate Positive Experiences — and whether it helped — is exactly what a DBT diary card captures. Recording skill use day by day is how you see, in session, whether emotion regulation skills are generalizing.
Track skill use for free
Build a custom diary card that tracks the skills you’re working on, or track it digitally in Theracharts.
Build a diary cardAll DBT skillsFAQ
What is Accumulate Positive Experiences in DBT?
Accumulate Positive Experiences is a DBT emotion regulation skill. When the days feel grey or empty.
When should I use Accumulate Positive Experiences?
Reach for accumulate positive experiences when the days feel grey or empty.
In crisis? Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, US) — free, confidential, 24/7. This page is educational and is not therapy, diagnosis, or a substitute for professional care.