DERS-16 — Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (16-Item Short Form): Free Test and Scoring
The DERS-16 — the short-form standard for emotion regulation difficulty across five dimensions. 16 items, 4 minutes, free in the Mindtalk app.
Clinically reviewed by Ms. Sufia Nusrat, MPhil Clinical Psychology. Last reviewed 2026-09-25.
Important safety information
The DERS-16 includes a question about thoughts of self-harm (question 9). If you have had any such thoughts recently, please reach out for support before or instead of taking this assessment — you do not need to take a test to deserve help.
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The 16 DERS-16 items — five dimensions
Each item is rated on a 5-point scale:
1 = Almost never · 2 = Sometimes · 3 = About half the time · 4 = Most of the time · 5 = Almost always
The 16 items load onto five sub-scales:
Clarity (2 items): Awareness of what you are feeling in the moment. Sample themes: knowing what emotion you're experiencing, having a clear sense of feelings, understanding why you feel the way you do.
Goals (3 items): Ability to stay focused on tasks when distressed. Sample themes: getting things done when upset, functioning during difficult emotional periods.
Impulse (3 items): Behavioural control when distressed. Sample themes: losing control when upset, doing things impulsively when emotional, difficulty stopping harmful behaviours during distress.
Strategies (5 items): Belief that you have effective options for managing distress. Sample themes: sense that emotions will last a long time before resolving, feeling overwhelmed with no way to feel better, sense of powerlessness in the face of strong emotion.
Non-Acceptance (3 items): Self-judgement of emotional experience. Sample themes: feeling weak for being emotional, embarrassment about your feelings, self-criticism when upset.
Total ranges 16-80.
DERS-16 scoring and interpretation
Add the 16 item ratings for a total of 16-80. The DERS-16 has no official clinical cut-off; the bands below are the practical guide used in the Mindtalk app, not validated clinical thresholds.
| Total | Difficulty level | What it means | Focus area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16-30 | Low | Typical of community | Preventive skill practice; retake in 6 months |
| 31-45 | Moderate | Worth attention if impairing | Structured emotion-regulation skill learning (workbook or short-term therapy) |
| 46-60 | High (clinical range) | Consistent with clinical emotion regulation difficulty | Clinical evaluation; DBT skills group often indicated |
| 61-80 | Very high | Severe difficulty; often present with BPD, PTSD, or severe eating disorder | Same-week clinical evaluation; comprehensive DBT programme |
The sub-scale profile guides which specific skills to focus on:
| Sub-scale elevated | DBT skill priority |
|---|---|
| Clarity | Mindfulness of emotions; "Observe / Describe" skills |
| Goals | Distress tolerance; "STOP" skill; radical acceptance |
| Impulse | Distress tolerance; "TIP" skill; opposite action |
| Strategies | Emotion regulation; "Check the Facts"; "Opposite Action" |
| Non-Acceptance | Radical acceptance; validating your own emotions |
How the DERS-16 was developed
The original DERS (36-item) was developed by Kim Gratz and Lizabeth Roemer at the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2004 (Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 2004). It emerged from the transdiagnostic emotion regulation literature and was designed to capture Gratz and Roemer's six-factor model of emotion regulation difficulty.
The DERS-16 short form was developed by Bjureberg, Ljótsson, Tull, Hedman, Sahlin, Lundh, Bjärehed, DiLillo, Messman-Moore, Gumpert, and Gratz in 2016 (Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 2016). The short form keeps 16 of the 36 original items, less than half the length, while performing almost identically to the full DERS in validation. The Awareness sub-scale from the original DERS was dropped in the short form (it had weaker psychometric properties), reducing the number of dimensions from six to five.
The DERS and DERS-16 are the primary emotion regulation measures used in DBT clinical trials and are the standard tracking instrument in DBT skills groups worldwide. They are also used in PTSD research, eating disorder research, and self-injury research.
DERS-16 vs other emotion regulation scales
| Test | Items | Time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DERS-16 | 16 | 4 min | Fast transdiagnostic emotion regulation profile |
| DERS (full) | 36 | 8 min | Complete six-dimension profile; DBT research standard |
| ERQ (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire) | 10 | 3 min | Cognitive Reappraisal vs Suppression strategies |
| DTS (Distress Tolerance Scale) | 15 | 4 min | Distress tolerance specifically |
| ATQ (Automatic Thoughts) | 30 | 6 min | Negative automatic cognition |
Use DERS-16 for fast transdiagnostic screening + DBT treatment planning. Use full DERS for research or when the Awareness sub-scale specifically matters. Use ERQ if the question is about which specific strategies (reappraisal vs suppression) you use.
When to act on your DERS-16 result
- 16-30 (low): No action. Preventive skill practice (mindfulness, opposite action) still worthwhile.
- 31-45 (moderate): Self-help DBT skill workbook (e.g. Marsha Linehan's DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets) or short-term therapy. The CBT Thought Record and Mindful Minutes practice work well for this band. Retake in 6-8 weeks.
- 46-60 (high, clinical range): Clinical evaluation. DBT skills group often indicated; consider whether underlying condition (BPD, PTSD, eating disorder, depression) is present.
- 61-80 (very high): Same-week clinical evaluation. Comprehensive DBT programme (individual therapy + skills group + phone coaching) is the gold-standard for this range if BPD is present.
After the DERS-16
- Track over time. Retake every 4-6 weeks during DBT or emotion-regulation-focused CBT. Skill acquisition shows up on the DERS-16 profile before it shows up in behaviour change.
- Screen for underlying conditions. Elevated DERS often co-occurs with BPD, PTSD, eating disorders, or depression. Take the BSL-23 if BPD symptoms are a concern (see our personality disorder page), PHQ-9, PTSD screening (ITQ), or eating disorder screening (EAT-26 or BES) as relevant.
- Structured programme. Cadabams' DBT-trained clinicians build skill-learning protocols targeting the specific DERS-16 profile. Group + individual DBT is the gold standard for BPD or severe emotion regulation impairment.
- Book a specialist. Mindtalk's DBT-trained clinicians work across Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mysore, and online for anywhere in India.
Validation and evidence
The original 36-item DERS was published by Kim Gratz and Lizabeth Roemer in 2004. Johan Bjureberg, Kim Gratz and colleagues developed the 16-item DERS-16 in 2016 to make the scale quicker to use in clinical care and large studies. They tested it in a clinical sample (n = 96) and two community samples (n = 102 and n = 482). The DERS-16 kept excellent internal consistency and good test-retest reliability, and its links with other emotion regulation measures, psychopathology and related behaviours were almost the same as the full DERS. No official cut-off was proposed, and Indian norms are not yet available.
References
- Bjureberg J, Ljótsson B, Tull MT, et al. Development and validation of a brief version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale: the DERS-16. J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2016;38(2):284-296. PubMed
How to take the DERS-16
- 1
Open the DERS-16 in the Mindtalk app
Tap "Take the DERS-16" to open the assessment. You will need a free Mindtalk account — sign-in takes under a minute.
- 2
Answer the 16 items
For each of the 16 statements about how you handle emotions, rate how often it applies to you on a 1-5 scale (Almost never to Almost always).
- 3
Get your five-dimension profile
Receive a total score, five-dimension profile (Clarity / Goals / Impulse / Strategies / Non-Acceptance), and a personalised recommendation for which DBT emotion-regulation skills to focus on.
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Read the guide →Frequently Asked Questions
- How accurate is the DERS-16?
- In its development study, in a clinical sample of 96 and community samples of 102 and 482, the DERS-16 showed excellent internal consistency, good test-retest reliability, and good convergent and discriminant validity, with minimal differences from the full 36-item DERS. It measures difficulty regulating emotions well, but it is not a diagnostic test.
- What are the five DERS-16 dimensions?
- Clarity: understanding what you're feeling in the moment. Goals: staying focused on a task when upset. Impulse: controlling behaviour when distressed (not lashing out, self-harming, using substances, or binging). Strategies: believing you have options for reducing distress (vs feeling powerless). Non-Acceptance: how much you judge yourself for having emotions (vs accepting emotions as normal). Different clinical presentations have different DERS-16 profiles — BPD often shows high Impulse + Non-Acceptance; PTSD often shows high Non-Acceptance + Strategies; depression often shows high Strategies + Goals.
- What does 'transdiagnostic' mean?
- The DERS-16 measures a psychological process (emotion regulation) that is elevated across many DSM diagnoses — not tied to any one disorder. Elevated DERS is present in: Borderline Personality Disorder, PTSD, Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorder, Major Depression, Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, and Substance Use Disorders. This is why DBT emotion-regulation skills work across so many presentations — they target the underlying process rather than diagnosis-specific symptoms.
- What are the DERS-16 severity bands?
- The DERS-16 has no official published cut-off. The Mindtalk app uses practical bands: 16-30 low difficulty, 31-45 moderate, 46-60 high, 61-80 very high. These help you decide on next steps but are not clinical thresholds. Clinicians usually look at the subscale profile and at change over time rather than a single cut-off.
- How is the DERS-16 used in DBT?
- DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) is the gold-standard treatment for BPD and increasingly for emotion regulation difficulty across diagnoses. It teaches skills in four modules: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. The DERS-16 profile determines which skills to focus on: high Clarity → mindfulness of emotions; high Impulse → distress tolerance + STOP skill; high Strategies → PLEASE + opposite action; high Non-Acceptance → radical acceptance. DERS is retaken every 4-6 weeks in DBT to track skill acquisition.
- Is the DERS-16 validated in India?
- Indian validation data for the DERS-16 are limited, and Indian norms have not been established. The scale is used in clinical practice to track emotion regulation during therapy, so treat your score as a personal baseline to compare over time rather than against a national norm. Cadabams offers DBT, which targets the skills the DERS-16 measures.
- How do I take the DERS-16?
- Click 'Take the DERS-16'. Complete the 16 items (3-4 minutes), receive your five-dimension profile, and get a personalised recommendation for which emotion-regulation skills to focus on. Free in the Mindtalk app.
- How do you score the DERS-16?
- Add the 16 item ratings (1 = almost never to 5 = almost always) for a total of 16-80. Subscale scores are the sums of their items: clarity (2 items), goals (3), impulse (3), strategies (5) and non-acceptance (3). Higher totals and subscale scores mean more difficulty regulating emotions. There is no official cut-off, so compare your score over time.
Need a clinician's read on your results?
A high score is a signal, not a diagnosis. Mindtalk's psychiatrists and clinical psychologists can interpret your results and recommend next steps — same-day appointments available.