Skills Training Target Hierarchy
When it needs to be clarified which problems have priority in DBT.
Arrange the order of the most important treatment and training goals so that attention is not drawn to secondary issues while more central problems remain unresolved.
When does this fit?
When the target sequence must first be clarified before concrete interventions so that training and focus remain effective.
Priority in the path
This node is more about preparation, stabilization, or later deepening around orientation and understanding.
What this is about
The Skills Training Target Hierarchy describes the ordering of priorities in DBT skills training sessions. Like individual DBT therapy, skills training follows a structured priority order: behaviors that threaten the life of the client or others come first; behaviors that threaten the continuation of treatment come second; behaviors that significantly reduce quality of life come third; and skill-building to address these behaviors comes fourth.
In skills training specifically, the hierarchy means that active suicidal or self-harm crises are addressed before new skills content is taught, and significant therapy-interfering behaviors are addressed before proceeding. The hierarchy prevents skills training from becoming an evasion of more urgent clinical issues.
Related exercise
Explore and apply
These nodes lead from the conceptual frame of reference into the first concrete application or deepening.
Chain Analysis
Shared topic
If you want to understand a problematic pattern step by step backwards.
Also in: Distress Tolerance · Emotion Regulation · Interpersonal Effectiveness
Missing-Links Analysis
Shared topic
If it is not clear which effective step has been missing in a difficult situation.
Also in: Distress Tolerance · Emotion Regulation · Interpersonal Effectiveness
Foundations and training practice
The target hierarchy clarifies priority: which behaviour comes first? Contingency management adds the question of which consequences maintain that behaviour or support change.
Sources and references
Show where this node comes from and how source-near or practice-near it is.