Check the Facts
When it is unclear whether feelings and assumptions really match the facts.
Separate observable facts from interpretations, threat assumptions, and catastrophizing to clarify whether an emotional response fits the situation in direction or intensity.
When does this fit?
If before opposing action or problem solving, it must first be checked whether the emotion and its intensity are appropriate to the facts.
Priority in the path
This node fits early in the path when inner restlessness or strong emotional activation are in the foreground.
What this is about
Check the Facts is the first step in changing unwanted emotions: before acting on an emotion or deciding it is justified, examine whether the emotion fits the actual facts of the situation — not interpretations, demands on reality, or thinking in absolutes. Emotions are responses to how we perceive events, not to the events themselves. Checking the facts involves asking: What is the actual event that prompted this emotion? Am I interpreting, assuming, or catastrophizing?
Would a neutral observer agree with my read of the situation? Does the emotion fit the facts in kind and intensity? If the emotion does not fit the facts, opposite action is the next step. If it does, problem solving is needed.
Continue in practice
Check the Facts Worksheet
Related practice
When a fact check should be worked through in writing and not just mentally.
Figuring Out How to Change Unwanted Emotions
Related practice
When, after fact-checking, you need to choose the appropriate next path for an unwanted feeling.
Explore and apply
Where would you like to go next?
These nodes are the next meaningful continuation when you want to move on from the current concept.
The DBT emotion model
Shared topic
If you want to understand emotions as a system of triggers, body, evaluation, impulse and action.
Also in: Mindfulness · Distress Tolerance
Chain Analysis
Shared topic
If you want to understand a problematic pattern step by step backwards.
Also in: Distress Tolerance · Emotion Regulation · Interpersonal Effectiveness
Check the Facts vs. Opposite Action vs. Problem Solving
Helps distinguish between emotion regulation skills that can seem similar but differ in whether they rely on checking, counterdirection, or concrete change.
Opposite Action
Decision connection
If Check the Facts speaks against the emotional reaction direction and the situation itself does not need to be changed primarily.
Also in: Distress Tolerance
Problem Solving
Decision connection
When Check the Facts shows that it is not the emotion that should be corrected, but the real problem situation that should be dealt with.
Also in: Distress Tolerance · Interpersonal Effectiveness
Sources and references
Show where this node comes from and how source-near or practice-near it is.