Fight Flight Freeze
This part of the brain is primarily responsible for triggering the fight, flight, or freeze response.
amygdala
This external factor often sets off anger, and can include things like criticism or a perceived slight.
Trigger
This DBT skill involves recognizing and labeling your emotions without judgment.
Mindfulness
In emotional regulation, this term refers to becoming aware of your emotions in real-time, to avoid being overwhelmed.
Emotional awareness
This mindfulness practice involves focusing on your breath to anchor you in the present moment.
Deep breathing
The fight response is most likely triggered when an individual perceives a situation as this.
Threat / danger
This psychological state, which involves feeling that one's boundaries have been violated, can trigger anger.
Feeling disrespected or looked down upon
A DBT technique to improve emotional regulation, this skill involves deliberately changing your environment to calm yourself down.
Self-soothing
When your anger feels like it’s about to take over, this first step helps you recognize what’s really going on inside before you act on impulse.
Identifying your emotion
This distress tolerance skill encourages you to distract yourself from overwhelming feelings by engaging in pleasant activities.
Distraction
This physiological reaction, such as a rapid heartbeat or quickened breathing, is part of the fight/flight/freeze response.
autonomic nervous response
This type of thinking, often characterized by an overblown reaction or seeing the world in extremes, can escalate anger.
Catastrophizing / all or nothing thinking
In DBT, this skill encourages accepting situations as they are, without trying to immediately change them.
Radical Acceptance
This emotional regulation strategy involves changing negative thoughts that can fuel intense emotions.
Reframing / cognitive restructuring
In DBT, this technique helps you tolerate distress by focusing on something you can control, rather than the overwhelming feelings.
Grounding
In this response, a person may feel "frozen" and unable to react to a stressor, often as a survival mechanism
Freeze
This common trigger for anger in people with high expectations involves unmet desires or goals.
Frustration or disappointment
This DBT skill involves tolerating distressing situations without making them worse, often used in high-stress moments.
Distress tolerance
This emotion regulation skill helps you pause, think about what actually happened, and decide if your anger fits the facts before reacting.
Check the facts
This mindfulness skill involves observing your thoughts and feelings without judging them, allowing them to come and go.
What is non-judgmental observation?
This hormone is released during a fight/flight/freeze response, helping the body respond to stress
Adrenaline
When someone feels this, they may react angrily because their sense of control or autonomy is threatened.
Helpless or out of control
This coping skill can be used when you’re angry or in conflict with someone and communicate your needs clearly. It involves slowing down, expressing how you feel, standing up for yourself respectfully, and keeping the conversation focused and fair.
DEAR MAN
This balanced state combines both logic and emotion, helping you make decisions that feel right and make sense.
Wise mind
During intense anger, you might feel like exploding or shutting down completely. This DBT distress tolerance concept teaches you to ride out the emotion wave until it naturally fades.
Urge surfing