Distress Tolerance Skills - VIDEO 7 - QUIZ

Crisis Survival Skills: The Seven Distract Skills of ACCEPTS

• Crisis survival skills help to get through difficult times without worsening the situation or causing stress and anxiety.
• ACCEPTS is a crisis survival skill set that stands for seven distract skills.
• The first distract skill is activities, which involves engaging in a different endeavor to take the mind off the crisis, such as watching a movie, playing a game, or cleaning the room.
• The second distract skill is contributing, which involves doing something nice for someone else to shift the focus from oneself to others.
• The third distract skill is comparison, which involves comparing oneself to those who are coping similarly or less well or comparing oneself to one's past self.
• The fourth distract skill is distracting oneself with emotions by engaging in activities that generate different emotions than what one is currently feeling.
• The fifth distract skill is pushing away, which involves mentally putting the difficult situation in a box and not thinking about it for a short period.
• The T in ACCEPTS stands for thoughts, which involves consuming the brain with mental activities that take the mind off the current situation.
• The S in ACCEPTS stands for sensations, which involves doing something that elicits strong sensations to distract the mind from the distressing situation.
• These distract skills are helpful in the short term for getting through a distressing situation without making it worse.
• It is not advisable to use these skills all the time, but they can be helpful in managing difficult emotions and situations.
• Crisis survival skills are also helpful in tolerating painful events and emotions when one cannot make them better right away.