Marielle and Ed delve into a discussion today on how you can learn to tolerate emotional distress and overwhelm without making things worse.  There’s a whole range of behaviors that we can learn, from mindfulness to using creative ways to distract. Learn more about how to ride out emotional storms with getting carried away by the winds.

Show Highlights:

• Resistance of emotional pain creates an additional level of suffering
• Dialectical approach of accepting what is AND looking for ways to change
• Cultural push to fix things
• When we respond to emotional pain in unskillful ways
• Learning to ride out emotional pain more skillfully
• Feeling shame over the coping habits we have established
• Distress tolerance skills are a natural outgrowth of mindfulness skills
• Concepts of emotion mind, reasonable mind and wise mind
• Subjective units of distress or SUDS
• Learning to ride out the storm 
• How we define a crisis in DBT
• When NOT to use these skills
• Skilled distraction
• STOP skill is where we start: Stop, Take a Step Back, Observe, Proceed Mindfully

 

Links & Resources: 

www.bayareadbtcc.com

 

Book:

“DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets” - by Marsha Linehan

Ask Us a Question!

We’d love to hear from you! Where are you getting stuck with your skills application? Ask us a question for the chance to have it answered on the podcast. Submit your question here. 

Please note that questions, and this podcast in general, are not a substitute for individual mental health treatment.