Today I started writing a piece on the Soothe/Distract Toolkit, from the Distress Tolerance module of DBT. I realised that it would be really useful for me to do some work on sharing my experience of the module, and some of the knowlegde DBT has given me so far. I've completed 8 weeks of therapy and it's already helping me to make big changes to my life. What I'm going to talk about are some of the skills and how you can use them. I want to stress that these skills are no replacement for the full DBT course, but you may be able to make use of them in times of crisis.
Distress Tolerance teaches us how to:
- Survive crisis situations - without making them worse
- Accept reality - replace suffering and being stuck with ways to move forward
- Become free - gain control of yourself - let go of having to satisfy demands of your own desires/urges and intense emotions
When should I use Crisis Survival Skills?
You'll know you're in a crisis when the situation is: highly stressful, creates intense pressure, you feel your own thinking breaking down, and you are experiencing intense emotions and urges.
It's important that you don't use Crisis Survival skills for every day problems or making your life worth living. This can lead to avoidance, which for a lot of people with BPD is whole other issue.
Over the next few posts I'm going to go into each skill and finally put them all together to create a crisis survival plan.
What I'll be covering:
- The STOP skill
- TIP your body chemistry
- ACCEPTS and Soothing 5 senses - as part of the Distract/Soothe Toolkit
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