The Pros and Cons is a skill taught in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a cognitive behavior approach to borderline personality disorder (BPD). During DBT, this tool is used to help you evaluate whether or not to engage in impulsive behaviors or aggressive actions. But this tool can help you think through other kinds of decisions too. By thinking through the consequences of what may happen and by evaluating what your goal is for your behavior, you can help manage your symptoms.If you are struggling to decide what to do in a given situation, give the Pros and Cons Tool a try. 

1. Using the Pros and Cons Tool with Borderline
Personality Disorder
(Personality Disorder 1F)
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2. Using the Pros and Cons Tool with Borderline
Personality Disorder
 The Pros and Cons is a skill taught
in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a
cognitive behavior approach to borderline
personality disorder (BPD).
During DBT, this tool is used to help you
evaluate whether or not to engage
in impulsive behaviors or aggressive
actions.
But this tool can help you think through
other kinds of decisions too.
By thinking through the consequences of
what may happen and by evaluating what
your goal is for your behavior, you can help
manage your symptoms.

3. Getting Ready to Use the Pros and Cons
Tool
 Get a piece of paper and draw one horizontal and one vertical line to
divide it into quarters.
 At the top of the upper left hand corner write “pros of BLANK.”
 Fill in the blank by writing in whatever behavior you are thinking of
doing.
 For example, if you are thinking of fighting with someone who hurt you,
write in “hitting.”
 If you are thinking of quitting therapy, write in “pros of quitting therapy.”
 At the top of the upper right hand corner write “cons of BLANK”
 Fill in the blank with whatever you wrote in the upper left hand corner
(i.e., cons of hitting, cons of quitting therapy)
 Next, at the top of the lower left hand corner write “pros of BLANK.”
 Fill in the blank with the behavior that is the opposite of whatever
you are thinking of doing.
 So, if you are thinking of fighting, write in “pros of not fighting."
 For the quitting therapy example, write in “pros of staying in therapy.”
 At the top of the lower right hand corner right “cons of BLANK”
 Fill in the blank with the behavior that is the opposite of the one you
are thinking of doing.

4. Listing the Pros and Cons
 Now that you have your sheet set up, fill in the
squares with all the positive consequences
(“pros”) and negative consequences (“cons”)
that you can think of for each scenario.
 Feel free to use extra paper if you need it.
 For example, for “pros of fighting you might
write:
 “Get rid of the emotional pain instantly.”
 For “pros of not hitting” you might write, “Not
getting in trouble at work or school.”
 Or, for “pros” of quitting therapy you might write:
“An extra hour each week to devote to other
things.”

5. How to Evaluate the Pros and Cons
 Once you have completed the form with every consequence you can think of,
take a look at it again, and see if anything stands out to you.
 Any patterns that you notice?
 Any quadrants that are empty, or full?
 After completing this exercise, does it change what you want to do?
 Carefully evaluate the pros and cons, and compare them to what your
purpose is.
 If, for instance, your goal is to eventually recover from borderline
personality disorder and have a strong relationship, there's steps you need
to take to get there.
 Quitting therapy, while it may free up some time, will make it harder for you
to reach your end goal.
 By looking at both sides of the situation and their repercussions, you can
make more appropriate and measured decisions about how to act.
 For more skills to use to cope with borderline personality disorder
(BPD) symptoms, please view the following page:
 Coping with Symptoms of BPD
 Source:
 Linehan MM. Skills Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder. New York: Guilford, 1993