DBT Skills for Teens with Anxiety

Relieve Anxiety, Reduce Emotional Chaos, and Change Unwanted Behaviors with Essential DBT Skills.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has been proven to help adolescents and teens get through some of the toughest times in their lives by teaching them how to manage anxiety—from chronic stress and worry to panic attacks, phobias, and overwhelm. In DBT Skills for Teens with Anxiety, licensed psychologist and DBT Certified Clinician Atara Hiller, PsyD, shares practical therapy techniques from the five skills modules of DBT: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and Walking the Middle Path—to help you find calm and control even when life feels unbearably hard.  

• SKILLS YOU CAN USE RIGHT AWAY, from disrupting spiraling thoughts to navigating conflict and creating positive emotions
• STEP-BY-STEP PRACTICE EXERCISES using relatable examples that make DBT skills engaging and easy to understand
• 14 READY-TO-USE DBT TOOL KITS developed for common stressors like exams, peer pressure, and fights with family
• DBT SKILLS CHEAT SHEETS that you can customize to your unique needs with a variety of worksheets, trackers, and more.

“In DBT Skills for Teens with Anxiety, Dr. Hiller breaks down the DBT skills for adolescents into a simple-to-understand format and offers journal exercises teens can use to apply each skill to their present situations. The book can provide a useful supplement to comprehensive DBT treatment or offer helpful strategies for a subclinical population of youth seeking guidance in navigating stressful emotions and situations. Dr. Hiller’s writing is clear, engaging, and supportive throughout.”

—Jill Rathus, PhD, DBT-LBC Certified Clinician; co-director, Cognitive Behavioral Associates, Great Neck, New York; and co-author of DBT with Suicidal Adolescents, DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents, and DBT in Schools
 
“In this user-friendly and helpful book, Dr. Hiller clearly teaches DBT skills directly to the adolescents who need them. Drawing on her years of experience as a DBT therapist, Dr. Hiller has filled this book with relatable examples and engaging exercises. I highly recommend this book for any teen who struggles with anxious feelings and is looking for ways to cope more effectively.”

—Shireen L. Rizvi, PhD, ABPP, DBT-LBC Certified Clinician; professor of Clinical Psychology, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University; director of Dialectical Behavior Therapy Clinic at Rutgers University (DBT-RU); author of Chain Analysis in DBT; co-editor of DBT in Clinical Practice (2nd edition)
 
“Dr. Atara Hiller’s book, DBT for Teens with Anxiety, is a fantastic new resource for teens, their parents, and clinicians looking to help their patients. She uses approachable language, small steps, and helpful worksheets to break down complex skills that the reader can use to make immediate changes. This is a must-read for anxious teens—and anyone with an anxious teen—to help them cope with uncomfortable emotions and build a life worth living.”

—Regine Galanti, PhD, clinical psychologist, Long Island Behavioral Psychology; author of Anxiety Relief for Teens and When Harley Has Anxiety
 
“In DBT Skills for Teens with Anxiety, Dr. Hiller presents a range of effective and easy-to-implement coping skills in an engaging and accessible way. Especially in today’s context, with experiences of anxiety and stress among youth skyrocketing, this is an incredibly valuable resource for any adolescent feeling overwhelmed by difficult-to-manage emotions. I anticipate recommending it to many of adolescents with whom I work!”

—Rachel Merson, PsyD., clinical director of the Child Program at the Boston University Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders
 
“Dr. Hiller’s book is an excellent resource for teens who may not need a comprehensive DBT program but could still benefit from learning DBT skills. She is faithful to the original DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents and writes in a way that is pragmatic and accessible for teens. Utilizing developmentally relevant examples, Dr. Hiller provides step-by-step instructions for each skill, as well as suggestions for combining and employing multiple skills to help teens manage a variety of common anxiety-inducing scenarios. Through her reflective practice exercises and clear, concise prose, Dr. Hiller has created a resource that will prove invaluable for teens struggling to tolerate, regulate, and problem-solve their anxiety.”

—Sara Schmidt, PhD, DBT-LBC Certified Clinician; owner, Middle Path Solutions, PLLC; co-developer, the DBT Adherence Coding Checklist for Individual Therapy
 
“Navigating the life of a teen is tough: school, peers, self-esteem, family conflict, just to name a few. These stressors lead to overwhelming anxiety and distress. Many teenagers lack the skills necessary to mitigate these symptoms, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships. DBT Skills for Teens with Anxiety is the answer. Dr. Hiller teaches DBT skills in clear, simple, and relatable language that can be easily grasped by today’s teenager. With step-by-step instructions, practices, and highlighted takeaways, these evidence-based skills will empower anyone who reads it. Dr. Hiller shares with the reader the ‘DBT Tool Kit’ for everyday anxiety-inducing scenarios that brings the skills to life. I highly recommend this book for all teenagers!”

—Matis Miller, LCSW, DBT-LBC Certified Clinician, founder and director of the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy of New Jersey, and author of The Uncontrollable Child
 
“Anxiety among the youth of America has never been higher. We live in a rapidly changing, often destabilizing and confusing world in which teenagers frequently feel overwhelmed by emotions and consequently engage in harmful, counterproductive behaviors. There is a dire need for more mental health resources and support to meet this crisis. Dr. Hiller’s new volume provides an excellent response to this growing need. DBT Skills for Teens with Anxiety wonderfully translates empirically supported therapy strategies into an accessible, engaging, and highly practical book that will be an invaluable reference for youth, families, and professionals for years to come.”

—Justin R. Misurell, PhD, clinical director, NYU Child Study Center—New Jersey; clinical assistant professor, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine; co-author of Game-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Child Sexual Abuse

“Dr. Hiller’s book, DBT Skills for Teens with Anxiety, is a tremendous self-help resource for adolescents. This book provides practical DBT skills in an easily understandable and relatable manner through the use of case examples, detailed descriptions, and step-by-step instructions. Adolescents can utilize this resource to immediately begin to develop a tool kit of skills to start feeling better and live more fulfilling and productive lives. This resource could not be coming out at a more opportune time given the extremely high levels of adolescent anxiety exacerbated by the pandemic and the significant limitations in access to quality, evidence-based mental healthcare.”

—Craig Springer, PhD, clinical psychologist and managing partner of Good Life Center for Mental Health; co-author of Game-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Child Sexual Abuse
 
“Dr. Hiller’s book, DBT Skills for Teens with Anxiety, is a wonderful addition to the available DBT self-help resources for teens. With the rates of anxiety continuing to rise, this book can reach teens who may not have access to mental health services, using the evidence-based principles within DBT to teach them how to better cope with their anxieties and other difficult emotions. The book provides practical, hands-on, straightforward, and self-guided ways to both practice the skills and reflect on them through writing. The DBT tool kits that are suggested for some of the most typical anxiety-provoking situations for teens provide an easy-to-implement formula to follow, taking away a lot of the guesswork! I am looking forward to having this as a resource to share with teens, both in and out of the therapy room.”

—Lauren Bonavitacola, PsyD, MT-BC, DBT-LBC Certified Clinician; co-author of Creative DBT Activities Using MusicAtara Hiller, PsyD, is a licensed psychologist and a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)-Linehan Board of Certification (LBC) Certified Clinician. She is co-director of the Trinitas Institute for DBT and Allied Treatments, a DBT-LBC Certified Program, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In that capacity, Dr. Hiller directs the comprehensive adolescent DBT program, which treats teens and their families with emotion regulation difficulties. She trains and supervises fellow clinicians and psychology graduate students in the practice of DBT, as well as provides individual DBT and co-leads DBT multi-family skills groups. Dr. Hiller also directs and treats teens and families in an outpatient comprehensive adolescent DBT program at the Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, a private practice in central New Jersey. She has extensive experience providing evidence-based treatments to children, adolescents, and adults struggling with anxiety, depression, and symptoms of trauma, as well as complex psychosocial stressors. Dr. Hiller has frequently written about and presented on DBT, borderline personality disorder, suicidality and non-suicidal self-injury, and treatment for child sexual abuse.