When It Is Used
Use it when the distressing situation cannot be solved immediately and the goal is to make the moment more tolerable.
IMPROVE the Moment
IMPROVE the Moment is a DBT distress-tolerance worksheet for practitioners helping clients endure a distressing situation that cannot be solved immediately. It helps clients personalize strategies across the IMPROVE categories and record ratings or reflections about which strategies helped.
Explore the IMPROVE worksheet
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Tool guide
Learn more about this tool
Use this background section to understand when the tool fits, how practitioners use it, and what to consider before sharing it with clients.
Optional Ratings
Before/after distress ratings may be used when included, but reflections remain reviewable without ratings.
Limits
The tool does not merge ACCEPTS, Self-Soothing, or other DBT tools into the same configuration.
Are all IMPROVE categories required?
No. A category can remain blank if it does not fit the client, and the worksheet can still be reviewed.
Does the tool rank strategies by effectiveness?
No. It shows reported ratings or reflections descriptively; the practitioner interprets usefulness.
Are before and after ratings required?
No. Ratings are optional in this configuration; reflections remain reviewable if ratings are absent.
What is saved when there are no settings?
The fixed IMPROVE the Moment tool itself is saved; sample demo content is not saved as client data.