FINDING THE RIGHT

distress tolerance skill

FOR YOUR SITUATION
IMPROVE
Imagery
Meaning
Prayer
Relaxation
One thing in the moment
Vacation
Self Soothe Encouragement

ACCEPTS
This skill can help you This skill helps you tolerate and improve Would you like
quickly reduce the emotions until the intensity subsides.
Activities intensity of a crisis to keep suffering?
Contributing situation by
Comparisons concentrating on your
Emotions body’s senses rather
Push Away than the crisis. You can
Thoughts use vision, hearing, YES NO
taste, feeling, smell, NO YES
Sensation
and/or movement.
This skill helps you
tolerate your distress until
the appropriate time to
resolve the situation. Do you want to learn to Keep doing what
tolerate your emotions? you are doing.
YES (aka keep being miserable)

NO
Do you need distractions
Radical Acceptance
from your emotions? Sometimes you will have
an undesirable situation Self Soothe
that won’t change. You
may not like it or approve If you are not able to change the situation,
of it, but accepting will you can use your senses to help calm the
TIPP intensity of your emotions by concentrating
allow peace to enter in
Temperature and provide you with the on vision, hearing, taste, feeling, smell,
Intense Exercise space to move on. We all and/or movement.
Paced Breathing have choices, and it
Paired Muscle Relaxation sometimes comes down
to choosing whether or
Using TIPP helps bring not we are going to accept
you down from your the reality of our situation.
emotional ledge so you
can handle the situation
productively. This skill is Pros and Cons
good for immediate but Use this skill to weigh the consequences
short term relief. YES NO
NOT between acting on an urge, or tolerating an
RIGHT urge. This can be useful in fighting impulsive
NOW
urges and their negative outcomes.

Are you at your emotional Are you able to change

NO YES
breaking point? the situation?

YES
Are you currently NO

in crisis mode?

Do you ever have NO

Do you anticipate being in
YES
anxiety or stress? crisis in the near future?

YES
IMPROVE
Imagery
Meaning Pros and Cons You’re deceiving
Prayer
Relaxation Use this skill to weigh the yourself and should
One thing in the moment consequences between acting
Vacation on an urge, or tolerating an consult a therapist.
NO urge. This can be useful in
Encouragement
fighting impulsive urges and
This skill helps you tolerate and improve their negative outcomes.
emotions until the intensity subsides.
By practicing the skill of Pros
and Cons, even while not in the
midst of a crisis, will better help
prepare you for when crisis YES
does arrive. You’ll see it start to
Self Soothe become a natural skill you
automatically do.
By practicing this skill YES
you can better prepare NO
for when crisis happens
in your life so that the
intensity is not so
strong. Concentrate on
your body’s senses
such as vision, hearing,
taste, feeling, smell,
and/or movement.

Do you often make a decision on Really? Are you sure?

NO
impulse and regret the outcome?

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