Brainstorming Solutions

Brainstorming is most useful after you have identified:

• What the problem actually is
• What you would like to change

A basic problem-solving sequence is:

1. Define the problem
2. Identify the goal
3. Brainstorm possible solutions
4. Evaluate the options
5. Choose a solution
6. Make a plan
7. Try it and evaluate what happened

This page focuses specifically on the brainstorming part.

In DBT Problem Solving, generating many possible solutions is a distinct step.

The purpose is to open up possibilities before deciding which response is most effective.

Brainstorming Solutions is therefore closely grounded in formal DBT Problem Solving, rather than being a separate standalone DBT acronym.

You may think:

“I could ask my supervisor...”

and immediately respond:

“No, that's awkward.”

Then:

“Maybe I could change the deadline...”

followed immediately by:

“They'll never agree.”

If every idea is rejected before the next one appears, you may end up with very few options.

The question during brainstorming is:

“Could this potentially relate to solving or improving the problem?”

The later questions are:

• Will it work?
• Can I actually do it?
• What are the costs?
• What are the benefits?
• What might happen afterward?

Keeping those stages separate can make it easier to think broadly.

Brainstorming temporarily delays ordinary evaluation.

It does not mean:

• Every idea is a good idea
• Every idea should be attempted
• Safety does not matter
• Consequences do not matter

You will evaluate options before choosing what to do.

Your first idea may be excellent.

It may also be the most familiar or emotionally obvious response.

Before committing to it, ask:

“What are at least two or three other possibilities?”

If you have only one option, your decision becomes:

“Do this or do nothing.”

With several options, you can compare:

• Effectiveness
• Feasibility
• Consequences
• Effort
• Timing

That comparison happens after brainstorming.

The purpose is not to produce the longest possible list.

For many ordinary problems, a handful of genuinely different options may be enough.

Keep going when your list contains only one narrow approach.

Stop when you have enough meaningful variety to evaluate.

Suppose your problem is:

“I need help understanding an assignment.”

Your ideas are:

• Email Alex
• Text Jordan
• Call Sam

Those are three actions, but they all use essentially the same strategy:

ask a peer.

Add different strategies:

• Ask the instructor
• Use tutoring
• Review an example
• Break down the instructions yourself

If you are stuck, ask whether you could:

• Change something yourself
• Ask someone for help
• Get more information
• Change the timing
• Change the environment
• Reduce the size of the problem
• Negotiate
• Combine approaches
• Accept part of the situation and act on the rest

Not every category will fit every problem.

Suppose the problem is:

“My workload is too large to finish by the deadline.”

Possible strategies might include:

• Reduce the workload
• Increase available time
• Get help
• Change priorities
• Request a deadline change

Strategy:

Get help.

Specific actions might include:

• Ask a coworker to take one piece
• Ask a supervisor what can be deprioritized
• Ask someone to help with a home responsibility

Moving between broad strategies and specific actions can help generate more possibilities.

Imagine asking:

• A practical friend
• A trusted family member
• A therapist
• A teacher or supervisor
• Someone who has solved a similar problem

What might they suggest?

You do not have to agree with the imagined suggestion.

The purpose is to shift perspective.

Imagine someone you care about described the exact same problem.

Ask:

“What options would I want them to consider?”

Sometimes it is easier to see possibilities with a little distance.

Sometimes you cannot generate solutions because something important is unknown.

One possible solution may be:

“Find out ______.”

For example:

• Ask whether the deadline is flexible
• Find out what insurance covers
• Ask what alternatives are available
• Find out what the actual requirement is

Sometimes neither option is sufficient by itself.

For example:

Idea 1: Reduce another commitment.

Idea 2: Ask for help.

Combined:

“Reduce one optional commitment and ask someone to help with one part of the project.”

If an idea almost works, ask what would need to change.

Maybe it needs:

• Less time
• More support
• A different person
• A smaller first step
• A different location
• A different deadline

Keeping all the possibilities mentally can make them harder to compare later.

Write them somewhere simple:

• Paper
• Notes app
• Whiteboard
• Problem-solving worksheet

Keep each option brief during brainstorming.

Instead of writing:

“Ask my supervisor, but that probably won't work because...”

simply write:

“Ask supervisor.”

Save the analysis for the evaluation stage.

Suppose the problem is:

“I want someone to forgive me.”

You cannot directly choose whether another person forgives you.

You can brainstorm actions such as:

• Offer a sincere apology
• Make repair where possible
• Answer questions honestly
• Give the person space
• Change the behavior that caused harm

The final outcome remains partly outside your control.

If your solution depends entirely on someone else behaving differently, ask:

“What can I actually do?”

That might include:

• Ask
• Negotiate
• Set a boundary
• Leave a situation
• Change your own response

Some problems cannot be completely eliminated.

Examples might include:

• A decision that has already been made
• A chronic limitation
• Waiting for an outcome you cannot control
• Another person's behavior

Instead of asking only:

“How do I make this disappear?”

ask:

“Is there anything that would improve the situation?”

You may need to accept one part of reality while working to change another.

For example:

“I cannot change what happened, but I can decide what I do next.”

Control / Some Control / No Control can help identify where problem solving is useful.

If you have honestly considered the possibilities and there is no effective action available, continued brainstorming may become rumination rather than problem solving.

Consider switching to:

• Radical Acceptance
• Turning the Mind
• Present-Moment Focus
• Self-Soothing

When anxious, your mind may rapidly focus on:

“What if this goes badly?”

That may make one option seem impossible before you have considered alternatives.

Write several possibilities first.

Then evaluate the actual risks and benefits.

If you are extremely activated, brainstorming may be difficult.

You may need:

• Breathing
• Grounding
• TIPP
• A brief pause

before returning to problem solving.

Conflict can make the choices feel binary:

“Either I give them what they want or I refuse.”

Brainstorm other possibilities:

• Ask for clarification
• Explain your concern
• Negotiate
• Propose a compromise
• Delay the decision
• Set a boundary
• Ask a third party for input

You will evaluate which options are appropriate afterward.

If anger is extremely high, the first effective solution may be:

“Do not solve this yet.”

Take a pause, regulate, and return when you can consider more than one option.

Low mood may make every option appear ineffective before you consider it.

During brainstorming, temporarily set aside:

“Will this definitely work?”

and ask:

“What are things a person in this situation could try?”

Evaluate them afterward.

When you are having difficulty seeing possibilities, another person may notice options you are overlooking.

You might ask:

“Could you help me think of possibilities? I'm not asking you to decide for me.”

You may be searching for an option with:

• No cost
• No discomfort
• No uncertainty
• No inconvenience
• No risk of disappointment

That option may not exist.

Brainstorm possibilities that could improve the situation even if each has drawbacks.

Evaluate those drawbacks later.

A solution does not always need to produce:

“Problem completely gone.”

Some options may:

• Reduce the problem
• Buy time
• Prevent it from getting worse
• Make it easier to cope with
• Create another opportunity later

The point of delaying evaluation is to avoid rejecting reasonable ideas too quickly.

It is not permission to carry out actions that are:

• Dangerous
• Abusive
• Illegal
• Likely to cause serious harm

If a harmful or dangerous idea comes to mind, do not act on it.

Move toward safe alternatives and seek appropriate support when needed.

If a situation involves immediate danger, a medical emergency, or another urgent safety issue, prioritize appropriate immediate help rather than spending time generating a long list of options.

Suppose you define the problem as:

“I'm lazy.”

That is a broad judgment, not a specific problem.

A more useful description might be:

“I have missed three assignment deadlines because I keep starting the work the night before.”

That gives you something you can brainstorm solutions for.

If every option seems:

• Impossible
• Irrelevant
• Unacceptable

ask whether:

• The problem is defined too broadly
• The goal is unrealistic
• An important obstacle is missing
• The problem is outside your control

Then redefine the problem if needed.

Possible solutions:

• Schedule appointments later
• Set multiple alarms
• Prepare everything the night before
• Ask for reminder calls or texts
• Put appointments into a calendar immediately
• Ask someone to help with transportation
• Change the bedtime routine

Evaluation comes afterward.

Possible solutions:

• Clean one room
• Work for five minutes
• Start with only trash
• Ask someone to help
• Make a room-by-room schedule
• Hire help if affordable and appropriate
• Choose only the most important areas today

Possible solutions:

• Text someone you already know
• Invite someone to an activity
• Join a recurring group
• Volunteer
• Attend a class
• Spend time in a shared public space
• Reconnect with an old friend
• Talk with someone about what is making connection difficult

Possible solutions:

• Drop a lower-priority task
• Delay something
• Ask for help
• Delegate something
• Do a smaller version
• Renegotiate a deadline
• Reduce time spent on something less important
• Combine errands
• Accept that not everything will happen

Possible solutions:

• Talk in person
• Ask for a scheduled time to talk
• Write down what you want to say first
• Use an “I” Statement
• Use DEAR MAN
• Ask someone neutral for advice beforehand
• Set a boundary
• Delay until both people are calmer

Before committing to your first solution, require yourself to generate at least three possibilities.

Then evaluate them.

The purpose is not to reject the first idea.

It is to make sure it is actually a choice.

Write one specific problem.

Then list five meaningfully different ways to approach it.

If two ideas use essentially the same strategy, challenge yourself to add another type of approach.

Ask:

“What would three different people suggest?”

For example:

• A practical friend
• A compassionate friend
• An expert in the situation

Write down what each might suggest.

Choose one broad strategy.

Example:

“Get support.”

Now generate several ways to do that:

• Call a friend
• Ask a family member
• Talk with a therapist
• Use a support group
• Ask a coworker

Look at your list and ask:

“Would any two options work better together?”

Write any useful combinations as new possibilities.

Choose a problem that cannot be completely solved right now.

Instead of:

“How do I fix this?”

ask:

“What are five ways this situation could be made even somewhat better?”

Ask someone you trust:

“Can you help me brainstorm? I want more options, but I don't need you to choose for me.”

Add their ideas to your list.

You still evaluate and choose afterward.

After writing your first few ideas, ask:

“What type of solution have I not considered yet?”

Look for a different:

• Person
• Resource
• Time frame
• Strategy
• Level of effort

Keep that solution.

Then ask:

• What would another person suggest?
• Can I change the timing?
• Can I ask for help?
• Can I make the task smaller?
• Can I combine this with something else?

You are not trying to prove the first solution wrong.

You are creating alternatives.

Write the idea down before responding to it.

Remind yourself:

“Evaluation is the next step, not this step.”

Give yourself permission to postpone the argument.

Identify the shared strategy.

Then deliberately change categories.

If all your ideas involve:

“Try harder myself,”

brainstorm options involving:

• Help
• Negotiation
• Changing the environment
• Changing the timeline
• Reducing the task

That is common.

The next stage is not:

“Which option has no downside?”

It is:

“Which option has the best overall balance for this situation?”

Evaluate Options can help with that next step.

Good.

Brainstorming has done its job.

Stop generating and move to evaluation.

You do not need every possible solution before making a decision.

Brainstorming can become another form of avoidance.

If you already have several reasonable options, stop generating.

Move to:

Evaluate Options.

One option is:

gather information.

Identify exactly what you need to know and where you could find it.

Other people's suggestions belong on the option list.

They do not automatically become instructions.

Once you have enough ideas, stop collecting opinions and evaluate the options based on your actual situation.

Brainstorming asks:

“What could I do?”

The goal is to create a useful range of possibilities.

Evaluate Options asks:

“Which of these possibilities makes the most sense?”

It considers factors such as:

• Effectiveness
• Feasibility
• Consequences
• Costs
• Benefits

Trying to do both stages simultaneously can interfere with brainstorming.

Problem Solving includes:

• Defining the problem
• Setting a goal
• Generating solutions
• Evaluating options
• Choosing
• Acting
• Reviewing the result

Brainstorming focuses only on:

generating possible solutions.

Use it when the problem is reasonably clear but your available options feel too narrow.

Example:

• Ask for help
• Change the deadline
• Reduce another commitment

Once you have options, you can look at:

• Advantages
• Disadvantages
• Short-term effects
• Long-term effects

Do not start weighing every consequence while you are still trying to generate possibilities.

The question is:

“What are my options?”

Once options exist, Cost-Benefit Analysis can help examine:

“What do I gain and lose from choosing this?”

Generation comes first.

Analysis comes later.

You may begin with:

“What are the possible ways I could handle this?”

Once you decide:

“I'm going to ask my supervisor for an extension,”

the next small step might be:

“Write down the two things I need to ask.”

One identifies alternatives.

The other translates a chosen direction into action.