I've never done DBT but I've read through some DBT stuff and I completely agree on the "captain obvious" part, especially with the distraction stuff. Duh, of course I feel better when I take a hot bath, read a book, etc. but you can't just stop in the of a stressful incident to go do whatever. That's great for after, but what I needed was something that works IN THE MOMENT to help me stop freaking out when I'm at that place.

For that, I did find a couple of the concepts useful - like this for instance:

http://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/docs/STOPP5.pdf

But basically what DBT seems to boil down to is "take a step back, take a breath, consider why you're feeling what you're feeling, is it based on reality and what's actually happening or are you blowing it out of proportion, and what's the best way for you to act wisely," and then "go do something fun to chill out." It's a reality check and then a reminder to be nice to yourself.

I think that's why some people feel like DBT is a "duh" thing, as these are skills a lot of people already have and don't even think about as "skills" in terms of something you have to actively work to learn. BUT not everybody has learned how to use those skills for whatever reason, or could use the support of someone reinforcing them, and that's where DBT is most effective. That's why I think it's not for everybody.

I think they do teach distress tolerance first so if people get upset by anything that comes after in the classes, they'll be better able to deal with that upset, so maybe they'll move on to more useful things that will be of more value to you.