Coping Skills
In this breathing exercise, you inhale for four counts, hold for four, exhale for four, and hold for four before repeating.
What is box breathing?
When the brain detects a possible threat, the body releases stress hormones that may increase heart rate, tighten muscles, and speed up breathing.
What is the fight-or-flight response?
This listening skill involves giving the speaker your full attention, avoiding interruptions, and focusing on understanding the message before preparing a response.
What is active listening?
Asking someone to knock before entering your room protects this type of boundary involving privacy and personal space.
What is a physical boundary?
Thinking, “They didn’t respond to my message, so they must be angry with me,” without checking the facts is this thinking trap.
What is mind reading?
In this grounding exercise, you identify five things you see, four things you feel, three things you hear, two things you smell, and one thing you taste.
What is the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique?
This emotion is often described as a “secondary emotion” because it may appear after fear, hurt, embarrassment, rejection, or sadness.
What is anger?
“I feel frustrated when plans change without warning because I feel unprepared. I need you to tell me beforehand” is an example of this communication tool.
What is an “I” statement?
Refusing to share passwords and asking friends not to post pictures of you without permission protects this type of boundary.
What is a digital boundary?
Thinking, “If I don’t get an A, I am a complete failure,” is this thinking trap that sees situations in extremes.
What is all-or-nothing thinking?
In this relaxation exercise, you tense one muscle group for several seconds, release it, and continue through the body.
What is progressive muscle relaxation?
Fear, sadness, joy, anger, and guilt are examples of these internal experiences that provide information but do not require someone to act on them.
What are emotions?
This communication style involves directly expressing your thoughts, feelings, needs, or boundaries while also respecting the other person.
What is assertive communication?
Telling a friend, “I can talk for 15 minutes, but then I need to finish my homework,” protects this type of boundary.
What is a time boundary?
Thinking, “If I make one mistake during my presentation, everyone will laugh and I’ll never recover,” is this thinking trap.
What is catastrophizing?
This DBT technique directs you to stop, take a step back, observe what is happening, and proceed mindfully.
What is the STOP technique?
This term describes the zone in which a person’s nervous system is regulated enough to think clearly, manage emotions, and make intentional choices.
What is the window of tolerance?
Asking, “When you said you were fine, what did you mean?” is an example of this type of question used to gain a clearer understanding.
What is a clarifying question?
Friends, family members, counselors, teachers, and other reliable people you can contact when you need help make up this network.
What is a support system?
Thinking, “I wasn’t invited this time, so nobody will ever include me,” uses one experience to form a broad conclusion.
What is overgeneralization?
In this mindfulness exercise, you imagine sitting beside a gently flowing stream, place each thought on a leaf, and watch it float away without holding onto, judging, or trying to change it.
What is Leaves on a Stream?
During this mindfulness exercise, you slowly move your attention through different areas of your body and notice sensations such as tension, warmth, pressure, or discomfort without trying to change them.
What is a body scan?
After someone describes a difficult situation, you restate the main message in your own words to make sure you understood it accurately.
What is paraphrasing?
This boundary-setting technique involves calmly repeating the same clear response—such as “No, I’m not comfortable with that”—without arguing, overexplaining, or changing your answer.
What is the broken-record technique?
Examining the evidence for an upsetting thought and replacing it with a more accurate, balanced statement is called this.
What is cognitive reframing?