diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index a4daff6..b591eaf 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@
   `clean_confounds()`, and `read_confounds(..., clean = )`, with zero-variance
   confounds dropped by default and recorded in a `confound_diagnostics`
   attribute.
+* Add explicit DVARS selectors in `confound_set()`: `"dvars"` now returns only
+  `std_dvars` by default to avoid pairing raw and standardized DVARS in the
+  same nuisance set, while `"dvars_family"` preserves the previous full-family
+  behavior and `"raw_dvars"` selects raw `dvars` only.
 * Fix `create_preproc_mask()` to ignore matching JSON sidecars and only read
   actual NIfTI mask images.
 * Add `query_files()` as the recommended explicit query API for new workflows,
diff --git a/R/confounds.R b/R/confounds.R
index d6a30cf..bb242fe 100644
--- a/R/confounds.R
+++ b/R/confounds.R
@@ -35,8 +35,12 @@
 #' - `"outliers"`: outlier/censoring covariates including
 #'   `framewise_displacement`, `rmsd` (if present), `motion_outlier_*`, and
 #'   `non_steady_state_outlier*`.
-#' - `"dvars"`: DVARS family: `dvars`, `std_dvars`, `non_std_dvars`,
+#' - `"dvars"`: standardized DVARS only (`std_dvars`). This avoids pairing raw
+#'   and standardized DVARS by default, which can create collinear nuisance
+#'   regressors in downstream models.
+#' - `"dvars_family"`: full DVARS family: `dvars`, `std_dvars`, `non_std_dvars`,
 #'   `vx_wisestd_dvars` (resolved to whichever names exist in your dataset).
+#' - `"raw_dvars"`: raw DVARS only (`dvars`).
 #' - `"fd"`: framewise displacement only (`framewise_displacement`).
 #'
 #' @param name Character. The name of the convenience set (see list above).
@@ -82,7 +86,7 @@ confound_set <- function(name, n = NULL) {
     "non_steady_state_outlier"
   )
 
-  dvars <- c("dvars", "std_dvars", "non_std_dvars", "vx_wisestd_dvars")
+  dvars_family <- c("dvars", "std_dvars", "non_std_dvars", "vx_wisestd_dvars")
 
   sets <- list(
     motion6  = base_motion,
@@ -99,7 +103,9 @@ confound_set <- function(name, n = NULL) {
     # include underscore and no-underscore variants (cosine_00 vs cosine00)
     cosine    = c("cosine_*", "cosine*"),
     outliers  = c("framewise_displacement", "rmsd", "motion_outlier_*", "non_steady_state_outlier*"),
-    dvars     = dvars,
+    dvars     = "std_dvars",
+    dvars_family = dvars_family,
+    raw_dvars = "dvars",
     fd        = "framewise_displacement"
   )
 
@@ -127,7 +133,7 @@ list_confound_sets <- function() {
     set = c(
       "motion6", "motion12", "motion24",
       "global3", "9p", "36p", "acompcor", "tcompcor", "compcor",
-      "cosine", "outliers", "dvars", "fd"
+      "cosine", "outliers", "dvars", "dvars_family", "raw_dvars", "fd"
     ),
     description = c(
       "Rigid-body motion (6 params)",
@@ -141,7 +147,9 @@ list_confound_sets <- function() {
       "Both anatomical and temporal CompCor (use n to limit)",
       "Discrete cosine basis regressors",
       "FD/RMSD, motion spike regressors, and nonsteady-state outliers",
-      "DVARS family (dvars, std_dvars, non_std_dvars, vx_wisestd_dvars)",
+      "Standardized DVARS only",
+      "Full DVARS family (dvars, std_dvars, non_std_dvars, vx_wisestd_dvars)",
+      "Raw DVARS only",
       "Framewise displacement only"
     ),
     stringsAsFactors = FALSE
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test_confounds.R b/tests/testthat/test_confounds.R
index 1ee65e1..c53f873 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test_confounds.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test_confounds.R
@@ -42,6 +42,20 @@ test_that("confound_set acompcor respects n", {
   expect_equal(acc_all, "a_comp_cor_*")
 })
 
+test_that("confound_set dvars defaults to standardized DVARS", {
+  dvars <- confound_set("dvars")
+  expect_equal(dvars, "std_dvars")
+  expect_false("dvars" %in% dvars)
+})
+
+test_that("confound_set exposes explicit raw and family DVARS selectors", {
+  expect_equal(confound_set("raw_dvars"), "dvars")
+  expect_equal(
+    confound_set("dvars_family"),
+    c("dvars", "std_dvars", "non_std_dvars", "vx_wisestd_dvars")
+  )
+})
+
 test_that("confound_set errors on unknown set", {
   expect_error(confound_set("nonexistent"), "Unknown confound set")
 })