Emotion Regulation Difficulties Scale 16 questions

"Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale 16 Questions (DERS-16)" is currently the most widely used short version of the emotional regulation ability screening tool in China. It is derived from the original 36-question Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale developed by American psychologist Gratz in 2004. It was developed in China in 2020 by Wang Ling's team. After completing the localization revision, the internal consistency reliability reached 0.89, and it only takes 3 minutes to complete the self-test. The results can correspond to the degree of impairment in the six core dimensions of emotional regulation. It is suitable for initial diagnosis triage in psychiatric outpatient clinics and psychological consultations, and can also be used as a free reference tool for ordinary people to self-awareness of emotions.

Oh, by the way, don’t believe those people on social platforms who charge 9.9 yuan for it by packaging it as an “emotional intelligence test”. This scale itself is an academic tool in the public domain and is completely free. Spending that kind of money is just a waste of money.

Have you ever had a moment like this? Obviously you just got stepped on by someone on the way to work. You can't work hard all day long. Even your colleagues are annoying you when they call you for milk tea. ； Or the child just broke a bowl, and you suddenly became furious. After scolding the child, you hid in the toilet and cried for half an hour. When you came back to your senses, you regretted it. At this time, many people will label themselves as "poor tempered" or "glassy-hearted". In fact, there is a high probability that a certain link in emotional regulation is stuck. DERS-16 is to help you find this stuck point, not to judge you as "emotionally unqualified".

In fact, the academic community has always had different opinions on this short version of the scale. Scholars engaged in basic research on psychological measurement always feel that it has been cut too hard. The emotional awareness dimension in the original 36 questions has been reduced to only 2 questions. It is easy to miss those groups who "habitually suppress their emotions and cannot even notice that they are angry." I once met a client who worked as a game operator. She had insomnia and could not eat for three months. She only scored 32 points on the DERS-16, which was far below the critical value of 41 points. She seemed completely normal. Later, when she took the 36-question long version, she found that her emotional awareness dimension score was close to full marks, which is a typical case of "emotional isolation" - she was taught since she was a child that "having emotions is useless". Over time, she was not even aware of her own negative emotions. The short version of the scale did not detect it.

However, front-line clinical counselors and psychiatrists generally use this version. After all, the clinic has to answer twenty or thirty calls in the morning. If you ask everyone to sit there and fill in 36 questions for half an hour, the patients waiting in line behind will be anxious. Moreover, for the majority of visitors who take the initiative to seek help and have clearly felt that they are "irritable", "uncomfortable" and "cannot control their temper", the screening accuracy of DERS-16 can reach 87%, which is very cost-effective. When I do my own preliminary screening, I usually use 16 questions first. If the score exceeds 50, or the score is not high but the client clearly states that he has sleep problems or physical reactions (such as headaches and stomachaches when he is nervous), then I will add a long version of the scale and a semi-structured interview, and the judgment will basically not be missed.

I can give you a list of questions and scoring rules. You can take the test at home. Just choose based on the actual status of the past two weeks. Don't deliberately embellish it, and don't answer based on the status of a major change a few years ago. It's not allowed. Each question is scored from 1 to 5, with 1 being "almost never" and 5 being "almost always":

1. I don’t know how I feel right now

2. I care about feeling a certain way

3. I feel ashamed of my emotional reactions

4. When I feel irritable, I do things that I may regret later.

5. I have trouble controlling my behavior when I feel irritable

6. When I feel irritable, I feel like I’m going to stay in that mood forever

7. I can’t concentrate on things when I feel irritable

8. When I feel irritable, there is nothing I can do to make myself feel better.

9. I feel confused about my emotions.

10. When I feel irritable, I feel weak and useless

11. When I feel irritable, it’s difficult for me to calm down and accomplish my goals.

12. It’s hard for me to figure out how I’m feeling.

13. When I feel irritable, I have no control over my impulses

14. I don’t like how I’m feeling right now.

15. When I feel irritable, I feel like my emotions are out of my control

16. When I feel irritable, it’s hard for me to think about other things.

A total score of less than 41 is within the normal range. A score of 41-50 indicates that emotional regulation has been mildly troubled. There is a high probability that the stress has been high recently. You can try to make adjustments such as mindfulness and walking.； A score of 51 or above is considered a moderate to severe difficulty. It is best to talk to a professional psychological counselor to check whether you have emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Oh, yes, once again, this is just a screening tool, not a diagnostic standard! Last month I met a girl who was doing auditing. She had just finished her annual review and her score was 54. She was so scared that she thought she was suffering from depression. So she took a week off and went to Yunnan to play around. When she came back and took the test again, her score dropped to 37. She was just plain tired. There are also people who are naturally accustomed to emotional isolation. Don't think that everything will be fine if you score low on the test. If you often have unexplained headaches, insomnia, and gastrointestinal discomfort, and go to the hospital to check and there are no organic problems, it is most likely that your emotions are to blame, but you are just not aware of it.

After all, the scale is a small mirror that helps you understand your emotional state. If it shows that there is dust on your face, just wipe it off. There is no need to scold yourself in the mirror. Emotional regulation is not something you are born with. Who has never been led by emotions? The high school sophomore I picked up before had a score of 57 in the first test. He had a fever as soon as he took the test. He slapped himself in the face and said that he could only relieve his anger by punishing himself. After practicing the "5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Method" for half a month, his score dropped to 38 in the next test and he no longer had a fever in the test. To put it bluntly, it's a good thing to be able to find a problem, it's better than holding it in until it blows up in the end, right?