Coping Skills
What are coping skills?
Tools/techniques/strategies that help one to work through a stressful or activating situation or emotion.
Define mindfulness.
Being aware of the present moment by focusing on your body, senses, surroundings, emotions, and feelings.
Reframe the thought: Things will never get better.
Examples: It is hard right now, but it will get better with time. I am capable of change/growth.
What is CBT used for?
Changing behaviors by challenging distorted thought patterns/core beliefs.
What is a value?
Fundamental ideals that fuel our thoughts and behaviors.
Name 3 different coping skills.
Examples: distraction, mindfulness, accessing higher self, distress tolerance skills, grounding, music, art, fidget, emotional release, thought diffusion, exercise, activating senses, self-care, etc.
What is self-soothing?
Activating the senses to work through a stressful situation by yourself.
Provide an example of an intrusive thought and how to challenge it.
Answer varies based on response.
What is cognitive defusion?
Letting the thoughts come and go, noticing them and letting them pass, creating space between our thoughts and feelings so they have less of a hold over us.
identify a core value.
Examples: justice, communication, honesty, trust, work ethic, inner child, compassion, knowledge, etc.
When would you use a distress tolerance coping skill?
When in a stressful situation that you are not able to leave in the moment and need to cope through.
What is grounding?
A mindfulness technique for regulating that reconnects you to the present and your body. Uses your body and senses to reconnect to the world.
What are ANTs and identify 3.
Automatic Negative Thoughts.
Examples: All or nothing thinking, mental filter, jumping to conclusions, emotional reasoning, labeling, over-generalizing, disqualifying the positive, magnification (catastrophizing) and minimizing, should/must, personalization.
Name two DBT distress tolerance skills
Options: IMPROVE, ACCEPTS, STOPP, TIPP, Willingness/Willfulness.
What is the difference between values and goals?
Values are not something that is accomplished, unlike goals. Values guide us in the direction and choices we make. Goals are how you exhibit your values.
Name an adaptive coping skill and explain how to use it effectively.
Answer will vary based on response.
What is leaves on a stream?
Mindfulness meditation focused on accepting thoughts without judgement. Noticing your thoughts/feelings/sensations and watching them float by like leaves on a stream.
Thought or feeling: I am going to punch someone in the face.
Thought. What is the feeling behind this?
What is Wise Mind?
Combination of logic and emotion mind, seeing the value of both reason and feeling, the middle path.
How do values relate to boundaries?
When setting boundaries based on values, confidence will increase when upholding the boundaries.
How do you use the following coping skill: Accessing higher self
Possible answers: Giving back to others, volunteering, helping someone else, random act of kindness, prayer, engaging with animals, smile at strangers, joining a cause.
What is the RAIN mindfulness and when would you use it?
Recognize, Allow the experience, Investigate w/kindness, Nurture.
When feeling overwhelmed.
What is a cognitive distortion? (define)
An exaggerated or irrational thought pattern/internal mental filter that influences how we think, feel, act, see ourselves and/or others.
What are core beliefs?
Beliefs about ourselves, other people, and the world we live in. Essentially, core beliefs determine how you perceive and interpret the world.
Why does Lindsay focus on values so much during programming?
They are the driving force behind motivation for change, self-confidence, and are foundational to the therapeutic process.