Options for Solving Any Problem
Theoretical foundation
Clarify the next effective approach to a problem before selecting a single skill.
When does this fit?
When, before choosing a skill, you first have to decide what kind of answer suits the problem.
Priority in the path
This node is more about preparation, stabilization, or later deepening around orientation and understanding.
What this is about
Options for Solving Any Problem is a DBT decision framework that maps the four broad categories of response available to any difficult situation: solve the problem by changing the situation; change one's emotional response to the situation (through emotion regulation skills); tolerate and accept the situation as it is; or stay miserable and make things worse.
The framework is used to help people recognize that they always have options, even when the situation cannot be immediately changed, and that choosing between those options requires first accepting which aspects of the situation are and are not within one's control. It integrates change-oriented skills (problem solving, emotion regulation) with acceptance-based skills (radical acceptance, distress tolerance) as complementary rather than competing responses.
Related exercise
Explore and apply
These nodes translate behavioral understanding into the next effective change choice.
Problem Solving
Related content
When the problem is real and not just the feeling but the situation needs to be changed.
Also in: Distress Tolerance · Interpersonal Effectiveness
Check the Facts
Related content
When it is unclear whether feelings and assumptions really match the facts.
Also in: Mindfulness
DEAR MAN
Related content
When you need to clearly address, request, refuse, or negotiate something.
Also in: Mindfulness · Emotion Regulation
TIP Skills
Related content
When extreme tension needs to be quickly regulated through the body.
Also in: Emotion Regulation
Sources and references
Show where this node comes from and how source-near or practice-near it is.