Skip to main content

Distress Tolerance Skills Part 1: Crisis Survival Skills

All posts in this series reference working through DBT® Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition, and all quotes come from that book unless otherwise specified.

Goals of Distress Tolerance:

Distress tolerance skills are important because distress is always going to be a part of life, and fighting against that fact causes more suffering. Distress is also part of making any change in ourselves, and if we shy away from that pain, we will be unable to progress. The Distress Tolerance Skills section of the book will be divided into two main types of handouts: Crisis Survival and Reality Acceptance. There will also be some material for "When the Crisis is Addiction". This blog will cover crisis survival skills.

The distress tolerance section has 3 main goals:
  • "Survive crisis situations without making them worse
  • Accept reality Replace suffering and being "stuck" with ordinary pain and the possibility of moving forward
  • Become free of having to satisfy the demands of your own desires, urges, and intense emotions"

 Crisis Survival Skills

The first subsection of skills in this section is crisis survival skills. "These are skills for tolerating painful events, urges, and emotions when you cannot make things better right away."
Graphic made by Zeke, all information taken from DBT® Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets,

STOP Skill:

The first crisis survival skill is the STOP skill, which is illustrated by the graphic below:
https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*HCl246ca1f2AFgzmi_wrtA@2x.jpeg
Graphic found at https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*HCl246ca1f2AFgzmi_wrtA@2x.jpeg

Pros and Cons:

The next crisis survival skill is Pros and Cons. This works best for a recurring urge that, if acted upon, would make things worse in the long-term OR a recurring reluctance to do a specific thing that needs to be done to make your life better in the long-term.

For an urge that, if acted upon, would make things worse, before you are in crisis, make a list of pros and cons for acting on your urge AND a list of pros and cons for not acting on your urge. Rehearse this list, and carry it with you. When you are in crisis, reference this list to help you make choices that are beneficial in the long-term.

The same principle applies to something you need to do to make your life better in the long-term but are reluctant to do. Before you are in crisis, make a list of pros and cons for doing it AND a list of pros and cons for not doing it. Reference this list when the crisis hits.

TIP Skills:

TIP Skills are all about changing your body chemistry to calm extreme emotions. They're described in the flyer below:
https://dbtselfhelp.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/9/82096548/editor/t_485.jpg?1492524640
Found at https://dbtselfhelp.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/0/9/82096548/editor/t_485.jpg?1492524640

Other Options:

You can also do body sensation meditation or other exercises with your 5 senses for crisis management.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Autism and Teaching English

In many ways, autism makes me a good teacher. I explain things clearly and systematically. I keep detailed notes on each student because I have to do so to remember. I have formulas for everything and provide data-based feedback on student progress after every lesson. It also makes me a good English as a Second Language teacher. I pinpoint specific, recurring issues in students' speaking (accent, pronunciation, and oral fluency) and take a structured approach to addressing these issues. I do the same with academic writing (structure, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, coherence and cohesion). However, it makes me a lousy literature teacher. I'm good at poetry, but stories are not my thing. I take them at face value. It's hard for me to see symbolism behind the words. A story about talking rabbits ( Watership Down ) is, to me, just about the talking rabbits, and I'm totally into the narrative of those rabbits. I also cannot empathize with character emotions unless I...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Jiggle When I Dance: A Poem

TW: Fat (reclaimed), eating disorder recovery mention, obesity mention, body image issues mention  I've been posting a lot of poetry lately because that's the content my brain has been able to produce, but I'm going to try to get some regular content to you soon. In the meantime, there is far to little fat positivity on this blog, as I grapple with my own eating disorder recovery, obesity, and body image issues. In that vein, I bring you my new fat positivity poem, "I Jiggle When I Dance". I Jiggle When I Dance When I dance My stomach wiggles side to side Even after I stop moving   The movement of my breasts Is really obvious And I’m learning Not to try to hide it   My feet on the floor Would make creaks and thumps Except   If I move my lower half My joints scream in pain And I have to stop dancing   So I dance with the top of me Jiggles and all And I’m learning to be free   To love myself more freely To live ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills Part 1

All posts in this series reflect working through  DBT® Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition . All quotes come from this book unless otherwise noted.  Deciding to Study Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: According to the book, the reason for practicing interpersonal effectiveness skills is to "be skillful in getting what you want and need from others", "build relationships and end destructive ones", and "walk the middle path". There are some factors that can get in the way of interpersonal effectiveness: lacking the skills you need, not knowing what you want, being too emotional to be skillful, forgetting long-term goals because of what you want right now, "other people... getting in the way", and having thoughts and beliefs that get in the way. The thoughts and beliefs that were getting in the way of me practicing interpersonal effectiveness skills were: "If I ask for something or say no, I can't stand if so...
Post a Comment
Read more