Pop Culture
This cartoon sponge lives in a pineapple under the sea.
Who is SpongeBob SquarePants?
This DBT skill involves using your five senses (sight, sound, touch, etc.) to ground yourself in the present moment.
What is the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique?
(Or: What is mindfulness?)
Sally felt overwhelmed and was about to shut down. She stepped outside, took three deep breaths, and looked at the trees for a few minutes.
What coping skill did Sally use?
Grounding / Deep breathing / Nature break
This simple tool helps regulate your nervous system by slowing your inhale and lengthening your exhale.
What is deep breathing?
This DBT skill helps you shift your emotional state by doing the opposite action of what your emotion urges you to do.
What is opposite action?
This famous video-sharing app is known for viral dances and trends.
What is TikTok?
This DBT skill is about changing your body temperature, doing intense exercise, paced breathing, or paired muscle relaxation to calm down quickly.
What is the TIPP skill?
(Temperature, Intense Exercise, Paced Breathing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation)
Bobby gets frustrated because his peer didn’t clean up after dinner. He feels his face getting hot and wants to snap.
What’s a simple coping skill Bobby can use to cool down before saying something he regrets?
Take a deep breath, walk away for a minute, or talk to staff.
This somatic skill involves pressing your feet into the floor or noticing your body’s weight in the chair to help you feel present.
What is grounding?
(Also acceptable: Body awareness, somatic grounding)
This interpersonal effectiveness skill helps you ask for what you want or say no, using a formula that starts with Describe, Express, Assert.
What is DEAR MAN?
This blue video game character collects rings and runs super fast.
Who is Sonic the Hedgehog?
This skill teaches you how to check the facts and challenge intense emotional reactions by looking at the situation logically.
What is Check the Facts?
Marcus waved at a friend earlier and they didn’t wave back. Now he’s telling himself, “They’re mad at me” and “I must’ve done something wrong.”
What could help Marcus think more clearly in this moment?
Talk to staff, write down other possible explanations, or check the facts.
This movement-based coping skill involves shaking your arms, legs, or whole body to release stress or stuck energy.
What is somatic shaking / physical release?
This coping skill uses intentional distraction, like watching a movie or organizing a drawer, to help ride out a strong emotion.
What is Distract with Wise Mind ACCEPTS?
This Netflix series follows Eleven and her friends as they face creepy creatures from the Upside Down.
What is Stranger Things?
This distress tolerance acronym helps you tolerate a crisis without making it worse and stands for: Distract, Self-Soothe, Improve the moment, and Push away.
What is ACCEPTS?
Jade is sitting in group and starts feeling overwhelmed and shut down. She feels disconnected and like she wants to disappear.
What’s a grounding tool Jade could use to feel more present?
Touch something cold, name things she sees in the room, or wiggle her fingers and toes.
This self-soothing technique involves gently holding your body — like giving yourself a hug — to create a sense of safety and containment.
What is self-holding / self-soothing touch?
This advanced distress tolerance skill helps you visualize a safe place, comforting figures, or peaceful imagery to self-soothe during a crisis.
What is imagery / guided visualization / “IMPROVE the Moment”?
This real-life doll made over $1 billion at the box office in 2023.
What is Barbie?
This DBT skill helps you reduce vulnerability to intense emotions by taking care of your Physical health, Eating, Avoiding mood-altering substances, Sleeping, and Exercising.
What is the PLEASE skill?
(Physical Illness, Eating, Avoiding Substances, Sleep, Exercise)
Sally was spiraling with negative thoughts. She sat down with a notebook and wrote everything she was thinking, then ripped the page up and threw it away.
What coping skill did Sally use?
Journaling / Letting go ritual / Thought release
This sensory-based coping tool involves focusing your attention on an object’s texture, temperature, or weight to stay grounded in the present.
What is sensory grounding / tactile focus?
This DBT skill challenges distorted thinking and emotional spirals by slowing down, observing the facts, and separating thoughts from emotions.
What is Check the Facts?