From the article: Distress Tolerance Skills for BPD
Life is never pain-free. We all face situations and events in our life that cause intense emotional pain. Unfortunately, when we respond to our emotional pain with impulsive behaviors, it sets off a vicious cycle— pain leads to self-destructive actions, which leads to shame and even more pain. Have you found a way to stop this cycle? What do you do to tolerate distress when you are in a situation you just can’t fix?
Skills That Work For Me
- I would have to say ONE THING IN THE MOMENT from IMPROVE works for me. So does IMAGERY, MEANING, RELAXATION. REALITY ACCEPTANCE's OBSERVING MY BREATH, HALF-SMILE (when I'm out walking), RADICAL ACCEPTANCE, AWARENESS, TURNING THE MIND, REPLACING WILFULNESS WITH WILLINGNESS. Also, SELF-SOOTHING's VISION, HEARING (MUSIC), TOUCH (CLEAN BEDSHEETS), and DISTRACT SKILLS,,, WISE MIND ACCEPTS i.e. ACTIVITIES (feeding the birds and my fish), CHIPPING AWAY AT CHORES, CONTRIBUTION, COUNTING MY BLESSINGS, SENSATIONS (COLD SHOWERS). SOMETIMES, nothing works. Then, I just give myself permission to rest. Relax. Breathe. Non judgmentally. Very hard to do.
- —Guest SweetPeas64
