Distress Tolerance is a wonderful concept to become familiar with. It informs us of ways in which the degree of distress we experience in respect to a situation, a feeling or a thought, is something variable that we can become aware of, and in so doing, significantly reduce or reframe the amount of distress we experience.
There are many factors that can ramp up our perception of our distress. So the cool deal is that, no matter the difficulty of the very real origins, we can learn to become aware of our current distress responses, and in that way help ourselves to reframe them, comfort and reassure ourselves, and reduce the degree and frequency of distress.
DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) has a great big beautiful tool box of tools to explore and take for a test drive. It's nice to hang out and check them out when nothing much is cooking your distress levels, and then when things become stressful or upsetting, go to the tool box and hang out with one after another, and see how it goes.
Repeating your use of tools and finding a few you really like, or sometimes saving a note ,or printing out a series of three, and putting it where you'll notice it when things get tough, is a great way to begin having them nicely accessible.
What happens is that, much like mindfulness, we begin to get that the distress we experience is something we begin to identify when we start to feel it. "Oh, there is distress I am feeling." The noticing and identifying alone helps us to realize that we are not our distress. Rather, it's something we experience. That very realization becomes reassuring.
Sometimes we say "But I'm distressed all the time." Yes, sometimes we are. And if we want that to change and improve, we see what we can do to try one or two of these out, and then jot down a reminder to do it again.
Sometimes first thing in the morning for five minutes is a helpful thing. Sometimes an hour before bed.
The key is to learn that, with distress tolerance, you can use the tools so you become better and better at not getting lost in 'thinking' about your life situations and origins of distress in ways that harm you and have no benefit. In practicing and simply bringing yourself back to try out one tool or another, the dynamics slowly become increasingly integrated into how you function. Resulting in optional less distress.
There are many factors that can ramp up our perception of our distress. So the cool deal is that, no matter the difficulty of the very real origins, we can learn to become aware of our current distress responses, and in that way help ourselves to reframe them, comfort and reassure ourselves, and reduce the degree and frequency of distress.
DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) has a great big beautiful tool box of tools to explore and take for a test drive. It's nice to hang out and check them out when nothing much is cooking your distress levels, and then when things become stressful or upsetting, go to the tool box and hang out with one after another, and see how it goes.
Repeating your use of tools and finding a few you really like, or sometimes saving a note ,or printing out a series of three, and putting it where you'll notice it when things get tough, is a great way to begin having them nicely accessible.
What happens is that, much like mindfulness, we begin to get that the distress we experience is something we begin to identify when we start to feel it. "Oh, there is distress I am feeling." The noticing and identifying alone helps us to realize that we are not our distress. Rather, it's something we experience. That very realization becomes reassuring.
Sometimes we say "But I'm distressed all the time." Yes, sometimes we are. And if we want that to change and improve, we see what we can do to try one or two of these out, and then jot down a reminder to do it again.
Sometimes first thing in the morning for five minutes is a helpful thing. Sometimes an hour before bed.
The key is to learn that, with distress tolerance, you can use the tools so you become better and better at not getting lost in 'thinking' about your life situations and origins of distress in ways that harm you and have no benefit. In practicing and simply bringing yourself back to try out one tool or another, the dynamics slowly become increasingly integrated into how you function. Resulting in optional less distress.
No comments:
Post a Comment