Distress Tolerance Skills - VIDEO 7

Study Notes

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.