Skip to main content
The DERS-18 is the brief version of the workhorse emotion-regulation measure. Six three-item subscales covering the dimensions of emotion regulation that come up over and over in dialectical-behaviour therapy, trauma work, and any treatment where the presenting concern is “I can’t manage the feelings”.

​
What it measures

Six 3-item subscales, each tapping a distinct emotion-regulation difficulty:
  • Awareness — paying attention to feelings (reverse-scored)
  • Clarity — knowing what you’re feeling
  • Goals — staying functional and goal-directed when upset
  • Impulse — controlling behaviour when upset
  • Nonacceptance — accepting emotional responses without judging them
  • Strategies — knowing how to feel better

​
When to use it

  • Baseline at the start of DBT skills work — gives you per-subscale targets for which modules to emphasise
  • Mid-treatment to track which dimensions are shifting and which are stuck
  • Post-treatment to document change across the regulation domains
  • With any client whose presenting concern is “I lose it” — the subscale pattern points at where in the chain regulation breaks down

​
How clients fill it out

Five minutes self-administered. Each item rates how often a statement applies, on a 1-5 scale with explicit percentage anchors (1 = Almost never 0-10%; 5 = Almost always 91-100%).

​
How Rivet scores it

Each subscale sums to 3-15, total sums to 18-90. Higher = more difficulties. The Awareness items are reverse-scored — Rivet handles the inversion inside the answer options. You don’t have to think about it. No standard diagnostic cutoff. The DERS-18 is a continuous tracking variable. Direction of change across sessions is the actionable signal.

​
How to read it

Look at the subscale pattern, not just the total. A client whose total is moderately elevated but whose Impulse subscale is the highest contributor needs different work (distress-tolerance skills, urge surfing) than a client whose total is the same but whose Strategies subscale is dominant (broader skills-deficit picture). For DBT work specifically, the Impulse and Nonacceptance subscales often respond first; Awareness and Clarity tend to shift more slowly.

​
DERS-18 vs ERQ

Both measure emotion regulation and they sit on opposite sides of it. The DERS-18 measures difficulties — six kinds of them: not noticing what you feel, not being able to name it, losing hold of goals, losing hold of impulses, refusing the feeling, and having no strategy that works. Higher is worse. It’s the standard tracking measure in DBT and other regulation-focused work. The ERQ measures style — how habitually someone reappraises a situation versus how habitually they suppress the outward expression of it. Neither subscale is a problem score, though reappraisal is generally associated with better outcomes and suppression with worse. If you want to know whether regulation is going better, use the DERS-18. If you want to know how this person regulates, and whether that is changing, use the ERQ. Neither has a diagnostic cutoff; both are read as trends.

​
Is it free to use?

Yes. Free clinical and research use, as the short form of Gratz and Roemer’s DERS.

​
Citation

Victor, S. E., & Klonsky, E. D. (2016). Validation of a brief version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-18) in five samples. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 38(4), 582-589. Based on Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: development, factor structure, and initial validation of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26(1), 41-54. Free clinical / research use.

Emotion regulation whiteboard preset

Visual emotion-regulation exercises that pair with DERS-18 tracking.

Mood diary

Day-to-day affect logs that give the DERS-18 subscale story texture.

MAAS

Present-moment attention — a complement to DERS Awareness.