Sometimes, our emotions get the best of us. It might be that we are struggling to keep things together - depression, anxiety, and other symptomologies overwhelm us, and we don't handle the distress very well. We use maladaptive coping strategies that work in the short term but will not over the long term. Additionally, there are some periods of our lives where keeping our emotions in check is much harder than at other times. Distress tolerance is a set of skills that can help support us during these times.