Distress Tolerance
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Distress tolerance skills help you cope with emotional crises without making things worse. These skills are especially useful for panic attacks, flashbacks, or overwhelming feelings.
Tips & Tools:
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Keep a self-care or grounding kit
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Write a crisis plan for overwhelming moments [see our crisis plan page here]
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Practice these skills when you’re calm to make them easier to use when distressed
Skills with Detailed Blog Posts:
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Grounding: The goal of grounding is to get you in the here and now. This can be especially helpful for overwhelming emotions, anxiety, panic, flashbacks and other situations.
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Pros/Cons: Describe the behaviour you are trying to avoid. Consider the positive consequences (pros) of avoiding that behaviour. Consider the negative consequences (cons) of giving into the urge for that behaviour. Remember consequences from past times acting on those urges, and consider whether they would be pros or cons of doing it again. This can also be used to decide between two actions (or more).
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Urge Surfing: Learn to ride the wave of the urge until it passes without acting on it.
Other Skills (Blog posts coming soon):
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ACCEPTS: Focuses on distracting with: Activities, Contributing, Comparisons, Emotions, Pushing away, Thoughts, Sensations
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Radical Acceptance: The goal of radical acceptance is to accept our feelings, even the negative ones, and not push them down.
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RESISTT: This skill is meant to help deal with overwhelming emotions. Reframing the situation. Engage in a distracting activity. Someone else. Intense sensations. Shut it out. Think neutral thoughts. Take a break.
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Self Soothing
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STOP: Stop, Take a step back, Observe, Proceed Mindfully
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TIPP: Temperature, Intense Exercise, Paced Breathing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation