Physiological Coping Skills
What are physiological coping skills for distress tolerance?
These skills can quickly reduce the intensity of your overwhelming emotions, especially when you’re too sad, irritated, or angry to use one of the other distress tolerance skills. In many ways, the physiological distress coping skills bypass your need to “think clearly,” because they are largely based on biological principles and physiological reflexes.
What are psychological coping skills?
Mental or behavioral strategies a person uses to manage stress, difficult emotions, or challenging situations.
What is radical acceptance?
Acknowledging your present situation, whatever it is, without judging the events or criticizing yourself. Instead, try to recognize that your present situation exists because of a long chain of events that began far in the past.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the ability to be aware of your thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and actions—in the present moment—without judging or criticizing yourself, others, or your experience.
What are two ways to use cold temperatures to relax?
One way to use cold temperatures to relax is to apply a cold, wet compress to your face, and another way is to hold something cold in your hands.
What is the REST acronym?
R-Relax
E-Evaluate
S-Set an Intention
T-Take Action
What are some examples of radical acceptance coping statements?
“This is the way it has to be.”
“I can’t change what’s already happened.”
“It’s no use fighting the past.”
Why are mindfulness skills important?
1. Mindfulness skills will help you focus on one thing at a time in the present moment, and by doing this, you can better control and soothe your overwhelming emotions.
2. Mindfulness will help you learn to identify and separate judgmental thoughts from your experiences. These judgmental thoughts often fuel your overwhelming emotions.
3. Mindfulness will help you develop a skill that’s very important in dialectical behavior therapy called “wise mind” (the ability to make healthy decisions about your life based on both your rational thoughts and your emotions).
What is the cold pressor technique?
This technique involves using cold temperatures to help you experience emotional relief by holding a very cold ice pack in your hand or running your hands under very cold water for two to four minutes. If at any point you experience a great amount of pain or discomfort, stop immediately.
What is the safe-place visualization technique?
Safe-place visualization is a powerful stress-reduction technique. Using it, you can soothe yourself by imagining a peaceful, safe place where you can relax. When creating a peaceful, relaxing scene in your thoughts, your body will often respond to those soothing ideas.
What is radical acceptance not?
Keep in mind that radical acceptance does not mean that you condone or agree with bad behavior in others. But it does mean that you stop trying to change what’s happened by getting angry and blaming the situation.
What is the focus on a single minute exercise?
Time yourself on your watch or smartphone. Then, without counting the seconds or looking at the watch, simply sit wherever you are. When you think that one minute has passed, check the watch again, or stop the timer. Note how much time really has passed.
What is progressive muscle relaxation?
Progressive muscle relaxation is a technique of systematically tightening and relaxing specific muscle groups in order to soothe anxiety and help you relax.
What are self-encouraging coping thoughts?
Coping thoughts are reminders of how strong you’ve been in the past when you survived distressing situations, and they’re also reminders of encouraging words that have given you strength. Coping thoughts are especially helpful when you first notice that you’re feeling agitated, nervous, angry, or upset. If you can recognize your distress early on, you’ll have a better chance of using one of these thoughts to help soothe yourself.
What does radical acceptance give you the opportunity to do in the present moment?
Radically accepting the present moment opens up the opportunity for you to recognize the role that you have played in creating your current situation. And, as a result, it also creates an opportunity to respond to that situation in a new way that’s less painful for yourself and others.
How do you do the record three minutes of thought exercise?
Set a timer for three minutes and begin writing down every thought you have on a piece of paper. But don’t try to record the thought word for word. Just write down a word or two that represents the thought. When you’ve finished, count the number of thoughts you had in three minutes and multiply that number by twenty to get an idea of how many thoughts you might have in an hour.
How do you use relaxation cues and what is an example of a relaxation cue word?
Your verbal cue gives you a reminder to relax, but by repeatedly pairing the cue with the act of relaxing you can eventually train your muscles to release simply by saying your cue word(s). For instance, when doing a progressive muscle relaxation, you can say your cue word as you release the tension. An example of a cue word can be words such as relax, calm, or any other relaxation cue word you make up.
Where are some places that you can keep reminders of your coping thoughts?
You can put your favorite coping thoughts on a sticky note and put them in your wallet or hang them in a conspicuous place where you can see them every day, like on your refrigerator, dresser, glove compartment, or bathroom mirror. Or, if you want to have them with you all the time, put them in a note app in your smartphone. The more you see your coping thoughts, the more quickly they will become part of your automatic thought process.
How do you use radical acceptance in regards to yourself?
In this case, radical acceptance means embracing who you are without judging or criticizing yourself. Or, to put it another way, radically accepting yourself means loving yourself just the way you are, with all of your goodness and all of your faults.
What is thought defusion?
Thought defusion requires the use of your imagination. The object of this skill is to visualize your thoughts, either as pictures or words, harmlessly floating away from you without obsessing about them or analyzing them. An example of this is envisioning yourself driving a car and seeing your thoughts pass by on billboards without focusing on them.