Draining the Emotional Tank is a critical IES (Interventive Emotional Skills) skill. This tool was designed to walk you through the process of “draining your tank” of unwanted, negative emotional content in order to avoid an episode, split, or other consequence.

Instructions: You begin by selecting all of the emotions you feel in the moment. The next step is determining “how much” of each emotion you feel (imagine the tank can only hold 100% emotion before it explodes). Finally, you will identify all triggers which are associated with those emotions.

After you have an output, you should begin to focus on why you feel each of the triggers for each of the emotions. Start with the “lightest” emotion first (whichever is on top), as this will get you further away from the 100% blow up fastest. It will buy you more time to work on the heavier emotions.