Basic Distress Tolerance Skills

Basic Distress Tolerance Skills are based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) which empower us to identify stressors as well as self-destructive coping strategies that we've developed. For the trauma brain, this is extremely useful, as we might find ourselves engaging in activities which temporarily meet our regulatory needs but might not be self-sustaining.

Informed Consent About Content
The purpose of this blog will *always* be to maintain a judge-free space to explore and grow. I will promote neutrality toward activities which often go unexplored or receive negative attention.  By choosing to read this blog, you are understanding that such activities may include substance use, self-harm, sexual expressions including sex work and queerness, compulsive addictions (workaholism, sex, gambling, gaming, internet, etc.), eating disorders, etc.  I do not hold negative beliefs here.  I do not hold a negative view for any of these topics, some of which are totally normal but might otherwise face discrimination or stigma by widely held views of society. Instead, what I promote here are coping mechanisms that optimize growth.

Basic Distress Tolerance Skills​​

• Identify stressful situations and/or triggers
• Identify self-destructive coping strategies 
• Apply radical acceptance of the situation
  • Remember The Mandolorion?: "This is the way." Radical acceptance is a process by which we assess the situation with neutrality by stating that this simply is what is.
• Distract yourself from self-destructive behaviors
  • Incorporate healthy activities
    • ​gardening, walking, meditating within a reasonable allotment of time
    • remember you can get on the internet or play a game, but strive for a time period that doesn't take away from the rest of your life
  • Make a list of the things you do
    • Bring it back to your hotspots and worries.
  • Acts of charity to others
  • Distracting thoughts
    • Use those Grounding Techniques
    • ​To keep a list of ideas handy, check into your journal about your hotspots and worries
  • Remove yourself from the situation and enter a different environment
  • Focus on tasks and chores
  • Use counting
  • Rehearse the steps to completing something you enjoy
    • ​I personally rehearse hip precautions for people who've had hip replacements, or I rehearse the major arteries of the brain.
  • What's your plan?
    • ​To stay within the window of tolerance, what are just a few things you can tell yourself you'll do? Go back to your journal and healthy activities for ideas.
• How do you relax through your senses?
  • Smell
  • sight
  • Hearing
  • Taste
  • Touch
  • Proprioception
  • Vestibular
  • Interoception