Posted by Nadezda on August 3, 2008, at 22:41:35
In reply to Re: Borderline Personality Disorder..NOT learned, posted by Nadezda on August 3, 2008, at 22:24:45
I 'm in a DBT group, by the way, and I was just looking through the section on distress tolerance.
Some of the suggestions they make are things like distracting yourself-- with activities or things that you enjoy, listening to music that's upbeat and calming, thinking about things you're grateful for (there must be some, after all), just encouraging yourself-- saying to yourself : even if this is hard now, there is hope for the future, and I can do it- and many things like that.
They also say that changing your physiological state is very helpful. They suggest exercise-- even taking a walk or jumping in place-- breathing of course, creating intense physical sensations (one in particular they recommend is putting ice or cold water onto your face), squeezing a rubber ball really hard, taking a hot or cold shower, and things like that.
I know from experience that doing these things is incredibly difficult when you're really upset-- so maybe you'll find yourself not wanting to do them. If so-- don't feel bad-- it really is hard and takes practice.
But it's amazing how you'll find that over time-- when you think better thoughts, or just relax your muscles that are most tense, or concentrate on a sensation for a while-- you really do start to feel better. And you begin to realize too that saying bad things to yourself will actually be part of a cycle of feeling worse.
If you say-- it's hopeless--- you'll feel more hopeless; if you say to yourself, there's hope, I will get better-- you'll feel a little hope creep in. I know it sounds mechanical-- but I find that this really works for me.
Everyone has to find the things that work for them- and it's different for everyone-- so these may not be the right ones for you. But I thought maybe something would strike you as helpful.
Nadezda
poster:Nadezda
thread:843786
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20080727/msgs/844028.html