Distress Tolerance 101
These are the two main categories of Distress Tolerance skills.
Crisis Survival and Radical Acceptance
You have intense pain that cannot be helped quickly, acting on emotions will only make things worse; emotion mind threatens to overwhelm you, you are overwhelmed yet demands must be met, and arousal is extreme, but problems cannot be solved immediately.
When to use crisis survival skills
Using a lot of energy to stay stuck.
Willfulness
STOP
Stop
Take a Step Back
Observe
Proceed Mindfully
What does DBT stand for?
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
What are the Mindfulness WHAT Skills
Observe
Describe
Participate
This coping skill allows you to focus on another person (e.g. ask a friend about their day, make a gift for a loved one, volunteer, send a thoughtful card).
Contribution from ACCEPTS
This skill is used when we turn our mind towards the acceptance road and away from the road of rejecting reality.
Turning the Mind
TIPP
Temperature
Intense Exercise
Paced Breathing
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
The 3 States of Mind
Emotion Mind
Wise Mind
Reasonable/Rational Mind
What are the Mindfulness HOW Skills ?
Non-Judgmentally
One Mindfully
Effectively
This is the skill (acronym) that we use when we are feeling extreme emotions, our emotional arousal is very high, making you feel emotionally dysregulated.
TIPP
Accepting reality with your body.
Half-Smile and Willing Hands
ACCEPTS
Activities
Contributing
Comparison
Emotions
Pushing Away
Thoughts
Sensations
Accepting that two opposing things can be true at the same time is called being
Dialectical
The set of distress tolerance skills that help you get through an emotional crisis without making the situation worse
Crisis Survival Skills
When a distressing situation does not have a quick solution, there may be no choice but to sit with the uncomfortable emotion and wait for it to pass; what set of Crisis Survival Skills help us cope with this?
Imagery
Meaning
Prayer
Relaxation
One thing in the moment
Vacation
Encouragement
This concept refers to fully experiencing emotional waves without suppressing or avoiding them.
____________ ________________.
Urge Surfing
IMPROVE
Imagery
Meaning
Prayer
Relaxation
One thing in the moment
Vacation
Encouragement
In order to use DBT skills we must first be
Mindful
The set of distress tolerance skills that help you accept situations that cannot be changed so you suffer less.
Reality Acceptance Skills
Self-Soothing through the senses is a helpful Crisis Survival skill...
Name one self-soothing activity for each of the five senses.
See
Touch
Hear
Smell
Taste
This distress tolerance skill encourages us to see thoughts as this, rather than as facts.
This could include singing your thoughts or saying them in a funny voice
Mindfulness of Current Thoughts
DBT
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
What are the 4 modules of DBT?
Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotional Regulation, Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance