viii •  Preface
for new populations. As you can see, these skills came from many different sources 
and disciplines.
I am happy to present this skills training manual for clients, which includes 
all of the handouts and worksheets I have developed so far in DBT. (Stay tuned for more.) You are not likely to need to use all of the skills I have included. Every skill works for someone and no skill works for everyone. The skills in this book have 
been tested with a huge variety of people: adults, adolescents, parents, friends, and 
families, both high risk and low. I hope the skills are just what you need. Use your interpersonal skills (see the DEAR MAN GIVE FAST skills in the Interpersonal Effectiveness skills module) to talk your skills trainer or other teacher into teaching 
you skills not ordinarily covered in skills training if you want to learn them. If you 
should decide to venture forth on your own, I must tell you that we have no research on the effectiveness of this skills manual as a self-help workbook or self-treatment 
manual. I am hoping to write a self-help treatment book in the future, so keep your 
eyes open for that. Meanwhile, you might be interested in the skills videos avail -
able through The Guilford Press or The Linehan Institute and listed on page ii of this manual. They themselves do not constitute treatment, but we know that many 
people have nonetheless found them useful, even though we have not collected data 
on them. On your own or with the help of a skills teacher, I wish you skillful means.