ProtocolMore foundationalEmotion Regulation

Weekly Regulator

Skill integrationPractice rhythmWeekly practice rhythm

If skill practice is to be planned and tracked in batches throughout the week.

Structure skill practice throughout the week so that stabilization is not just carried out selectively, but in a comprehensible rhythm.

When does this fit?

When not just a single moment, but the ongoing weekly structure for regulation and skill use should be supported.

Priority in the path

This node is more about preparation, stabilization, or later deepening around prepare for stress.

What this is about

The Weekly Regulator is a structured planning tool that addresses the role of lifestyle patterns in emotional vulnerability. Rather than responding only to crises as they arise, the Weekly Regulator builds a weekly structure that proactively includes the PLEASE skills, pleasant events, mastery activities, and social connection.

The premise is that emotional regulation is not only a moment-to-moment skill but also a medium-term project of arranging one's week so that vulnerability factors are minimized and protective factors are consistently present. It is most useful for people whose weeks have become dominated by avoidance, isolation, or reactive activity rather than by deliberate design.

Further reading Linehan Manual — Ch. 9

Step by step

Work through the steps at your own pace. For written exercises, you can use paper or a notebook.

Create a weekly grid and review the previous seven days at the end of the week.
Record physical self-care and how you handled distressing thoughts.
List positive events for each day.
Record when you observed and accepted emotions, used opposite action or practised problem solving.
Use the overview as a reminder of skills you want to keep practising.

Continue in practice

Tool

DBT Diary

Related practice

If progress, triggers and skill usage should be made visible over time.

Also in: Mindfulness · Distress Tolerance · Emotion Regulation · Interpersonal Effectiveness

Open as exercise

Explore and apply

These nodes lead from a tool or procedure into the next meaningful continuation.

Skill bundle

ABC PLEASE Skills

Emotion Exposure

Shared topic

When a feeling not only needs to be understood, but also consciously endured in a safe form.

Also in: Distress Tolerance

Open entry

Framework

Emotion Regulation (Framework)

Background

If you first have to understand how emotions change and where you can intervene.

Also in: Mindfulness · Distress Tolerance · Interpersonal Effectiveness

Open entry

Framework

Cognitive Vulnerability

Shared topic

When thinking styles and assumptions must become visible that make emotional escalations more likely.

Also in: Mindfulness

Open entry

Framework

Build Mastery and Cope Ahead

Problem Solving

Shared topic

When the problem is real and not just the feeling but the situation needs to be changed.

Also in: Distress Tolerance · Interpersonal Effectiveness

Open entry

Immediate Help vs. Long-Term Building

Helps distinguish whether you currently need acute interruption and downregulation or more repeatable building and preparation steps.

When choose this concept instead?

Start here when stabilization is to be anchored as a repeatable weekly practice.

translates building work into a viable weekly structure
fits recurring dysregulation or lack of regularity
asks first: how do I anchor stabilization as a repeatable weekly practice?

Vergleichsmatrix
	Weekly Regulator	STOP Skill	TIP Skills
Module context	How do I anchor stabilization as a repeatable weekly practice?	How do I stop the escalation right now?	How do I quickly bring my system down through the body right now?
Skill family or proximity	Translate building work into a sustainable and repeatable weekly structure.	Immediate interruption of impulse, escalation, or automatic behavior.	Fast physiological downregulation for high activation.
Comparison focus	Recurring dysregulation, lack of regularity, need for a supportive routine.	An overheated moment, impulse breakthrough, stopping action before reacting.	Near panic, extreme tension, high bodily activation.