Check The Facts

Definition

Check the Facts is an emotion regulation skill from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) that helps you determine whether your emotional response fits the actual facts of a situation. This technique involves examining the objective reality of what's happening to decide if your emotion is justified and proportionate, or if it might be based on assumptions, interpretations, or past experiences rather than current facts.

When You Use Check the Facts

Situations That Call for Fact-Checking

You can use this skill when your emotions feel very intense, you're not sure if your emotional reaction fits the situation, you suspect you might be overreacting or underreacting, you're making assumptions about others' intentions, or you want to respond more effectively to a challenging situation.

The Purpose of Checking Facts

This skill helps you respond to situations based on reality rather than assumptions, reduce unnecessary emotional suffering, make better decisions about how to handle situations, and determine whether you need to change your emotion or change the situation.

The Check the Facts Process

Step 1: Identify Your Emotion

Start by clearly identifying what emotion you're experiencing. Are you feeling angry, sad, anxious, guilty, ashamed, or something else? Be as specific as possible about the emotion and its intensity level.

Step 2: Examine the Facts

Look at the objective, observable facts of the situation without adding your interpretations, assumptions, or judgments. What actually happened? What did people actually say or do? What evidence do you have for your thoughts about the situation?

Step 3: Check Your Interpretations

Notice where you might be adding interpretations to the facts. Are you mind-reading about others' intentions? Are you predicting negative outcomes without evidence? Are you assuming the worst-case scenario?

Step 4: Evaluate Fit

Determine whether your emotion and its intensity level fit the actual facts of the situation. Does the emotion make sense given what really happened? Is the intensity proportionate to the actual threat or importance of the situation?

Common Emotional Patterns to Check

Anxiety and Fear

When you're anxious, check whether there's actual current danger or if you're responding to imagined threats. Ask yourself: Is there real evidence of danger right now? Am I catastrophizing about unlikely outcomes? Am I confusing possibility with probability?

Anger

When you're angry, examine whether someone actually violated your rights or values, or if you're making assumptions about their intentions. Ask yourself: Did this person actually do something wrong? Am I assuming malicious intent without evidence? Is my anger proportionate to what actually happened?

Sadness and Grief

When you're sad, check whether you've actually lost something important or if you're grieving something that hasn't happened yet. Ask yourself: Have I actually lost something valuable? Am I mourning a future that may not happen? Is my sadness about facts or fears?

Guilt and Shame

When you feel guilty or ashamed, examine whether you actually did something wrong or harmful. Ask yourself: Did I actually violate my values or hurt someone? Am I taking responsibility for things outside my control? Is my guilt based on facts or unrealistic expectations?

Research and Evidence

What Studies Show

Research demonstrates that checking the facts effectively reduces emotional dysregulation, improves decision-making during emotional situations, decreases unnecessary emotional suffering, enhances problem-solving abilities, and supports better interpersonal relationships.

Distinguishing Facts from Interpretations

What Are Facts?

Facts are observable, verifiable events that most people would agree happened. They include what people actually said or did, measurable circumstances, and documented events.

What Are Interpretations?

Interpretations are your thoughts about what facts mean, assumptions about others' motivations, predictions about future events, and judgments about whether something is good or bad.

Examples of Facts vs. Interpretations

Fact: "My friend didn't return my text message."

Interpretation: "She must be angry with me."

Fact: "My boss gave me feedback on my project."

Interpretation: "He thinks I'm incompetent."

Fact: "I made a mistake at work."

Interpretation: "I'm a failure."

Questions for Checking Facts

Reality Testing Questions

Ask yourself: What evidence do I have that supports my thoughts? What evidence contradicts my thoughts? Am I confusing thoughts with facts? What would an objective observer say about this situation?

Assumption Checking Questions

Consider: Am I mind-reading about others' thoughts or intentions? Am I predicting the future without sufficient evidence? Am I assuming the worst-case scenario? What other explanations are possible?

Proportionality Questions

Evaluate: Does my emotional intensity match the actual importance of this situation? Am I reacting to this situation as if it were more serious than it is? How will this matter in a week, month, or year?

When Emotions Don't Fit the Facts

Using Opposite Action

If you determine that your emotion doesn't fit the facts or is more intense than warranted, you can use opposite action to change your emotional response. Act opposite to what the emotion urges you to do.

Cognitive Restructuring

You can also work on changing your thoughts to better match the facts, challenge assumptions and interpretations that don't fit reality, and develop more balanced and accurate ways of thinking about the situation.

Problem-Solving

Sometimes checking the facts reveals that you need more information. You might need to ask clarifying questions, gather additional evidence, or communicate directly with others to understand the situation better.

When Emotions Do Fit the Facts

Accepting Your Emotional Response

If your emotion fits the facts, accept that your emotional response is valid and appropriate. You don't need to change the emotion; instead, you can focus on how to respond effectively to the situation.

Taking Appropriate Action

When your emotions fit the facts, they provide important information about what action might be needed. You might need to solve a problem, set a boundary, seek support, or make changes in your life.

Honouring Your Feelings

Valid emotions deserve to be acknowledged and honoured, even when they're uncomfortable. You can experience and express your emotions in healthy ways while deciding how to respond to the situation.

Cultural and Personal Considerations

Cultural Differences

Different cultures have varying norms about emotional expression and what constitutes appropriate emotional responses. You can adapt fact-checking to fit your cultural context while maintaining its core function.

Individual Factors

Your personal history, trauma experiences, and individual sensitivities might influence your emotional responses. Consider these factors when evaluating whether emotions fit facts.

Professional Applications

If You're Receiving Treatment

Your therapist should help you learn to distinguish facts from interpretations, practice checking facts in various situations, develop skills for gathering accurate information, and support you in using this skill effectively.

For Mental Health Professionals

When teaching this skill, you should help clients identify their interpretation patterns, practice fact-checking through examples, address resistance to examining assumptions, and support clients in developing more accurate thinking patterns.

Common Challenges and Solutions

When Facts Are Unclear

Sometimes you don't have enough information to determine the facts clearly. In these cases, you can gather more information, ask clarifying questions, or acknowledge uncertainty while avoiding assumptions.

When Emotions Feel Valid Despite Facts

Sometimes emotions don't fit current facts but make sense given your past experiences. You can acknowledge both the validity of your emotional response and the reality that it might not fit the current situation.

Resistance to Fact-Checking

You might resist checking facts if you're afraid of being wrong or if strong emotions feel justified. Remember that the goal is accuracy and effective responding, not being right or wrong.

Relationship to Other DBT Skills

Integration with Other Modules

• Mindfulness: Present-moment awareness helps you observe facts without immediately adding interpretations
• Distress tolerance: When emotions do fit facts but are painful, distress tolerance skills help you cope
• Interpersonal effectiveness: Accurate fact-checking improves communication and relationships
• Wise mind: Balanced perspective helps you evaluate both facts and emotions appropriately

Your Check the Facts Practice

Building Awareness

Start noticing when your emotions feel very intense, practice distinguishing facts from interpretations in low-stakes situations, pay attention to your common interpretation patterns, and develop habits of reality-testing your thoughts.

Implementation Strategy

Use check the facts before making important decisions, practice the skill when you're calm to build proficiency, apply it to past situations to learn your patterns, and combine it with other emotion regulation skills as needed.

Moving Forward

Developing Emotional Intelligence

As you practice checking the facts, you'll likely become better at understanding your emotional responses, more accurate in your perceptions of situations, and more effective in your responses to challenges.

Long-term Benefits

Regular use of check the facts often leads to reduced unnecessary emotional suffering, improved relationships through more accurate perceptions, better decision-making abilities, and increased confidence in handling difficult situations.

Conclusion

In practice, Check the Facts offers a structured way to step back from immediate emotional reactions and assess whether they align with what is objectively known. By distinguishing between facts and interpretations, it supports clearer thinking, more proportionate emotional responses, and more effective behavioural choices. When emotions are congruent with reality, the skill reinforces acceptance and appropriate action; when they are not, it creates space for adjustment through alternative coping strategies. Over time, consistent use of this approach strengthens emotional awareness, reduces reactive distress, and improves the ability to navigate complex interpersonal and internal experiences with greater clarity and stability.

References