DBT - Distress Tolerance - Part 2

Life will always deal difficult circumstances. It's part of the human experience. While some people deal with more difficult circumstances than others, everyone will have to deal with uncomfortable, if not tragic, situations. While these DBT skills can help those struggling with mental health issues or mental illness, they are also helpful to maintain mental health in general.

In my last post on distress tolerance, I wrote about dealing with difficult situations using radical acceptance. In this post I want to share in a little more detail how I use radical acceptance.

Radical acceptance means taking a look at a past event or current situation and deciding what to do about it. Rather than allowing the situation to consume you and lead to anxiety or depression, there are strategies to cope and deal with that event or situation without emotional turmoil.

As I touched on in the previous post on distress tolerance, the first part is accepting the situation for what it is. Then, it is accepting the emotions that go along with that situation. Finally, it is accepting that life will be OK, even with the painful situation.

It is hard for me to practice radical acceptance when feeling depressed. Instead of being able to accept a past mistake, I tend to ruminate and focus on that mistake with regret, which leads to more feelings of depression.

It's good to practice radical acceptance when I'm feeling balanced because then it's easier to accept a past event or mistake and realize that the only thing I can do is learn from that past event or mistake and that beating myself up or feeling depressed about it isn't going to help me. By practicing radical acceptance when I'm not experiencing bipolar symptoms, it helps me be more effective at it when I am dealing with anxiety, depression, or hypomania.

A big piece of radical acceptance is telling oneself that life can still be good despite a past painful event. Past events do not have to become self-defining. Though I had to leave two different jobs abruptly because of acute bipolar symptoms, I don't need to label myself a quitter. Instead, I can accept what happened and tell myself that even though those weren't ideal circumstances, I have a job now and am better prepared to stop or reduce bipolar symptoms that could lead me to miss work. Rather than focus on the past, I can enjoy the things that are good in my life, of which are many.

My next post will be my last post on distress tolerance.

Until next time.