In Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) the exercise Wise Mind Accepts is a set of seven distraction skills.The ACCEPTS skills are crisis survival skills are not problem solving skills. The aim is to help you tolerate painful events and emotions until you’re in the right place to engage in active problem solving. Thats because somethings if you’re in a crisis, trying to solve the problem there and then can lead to bigger problems because you’re stuck in emotion mind

The distress tolerance skills can remembered by using the acronym ACCEPTS.

☐ Activities
☐ Contributing
☐ Comparisons
☐ Emotions
☐ Pushing Away
☐ Thoughts
☐ Sensations

🔵 CHAPTERS

0:00 When to use distraction
1:10 Activities
1:43 Contributing
2:33 Comparisons
3:19 Emotions
3:55 Pushing away
4:27 Thoughts
4:47 Sensations
5:10 Distraction plan

🔵 BOOK RECOMMENDATION

☐ DBT Skills Training Manual By Marsha Linehan: https://amzn.to/3kTzsUn

🔵 ACTIVITIES The key here is to put your focus on something completely different such as watching your favourite TV show, listening to a piece of music, playing a video game, gardening, having a bath or cleaning a room.

🔵 CONTRIBUTING This could involve talking a friends dog for walk, picking up some shopping for neighbour or a taking a friend out for coffee. Engaging fully in the experience of helping someone can distract you from your own problems for a short while. If you are always giving to people or you are a people pleaser then I would avoid this distraction skill and try one of the other distraction skills.

🔵 COMPARISONS This skill includes comparing yourself to where you were a few years ago, perhaps you weren’t coping as well as you are now. This isn’t about dismissing your current crisis but sometimes it can be helpful to remind yourself that the worse is behind you. The founder of DBT Marsha Linehan also suggests you can compare yourself to other people who are less fortunate as a way to recast your own situation in a more positive light. This skills is really about trying to find gratitude in your situation.

🔵 EMOTIONS What you are doing here is generating a different or even opposite emotion to the one you’re currently feeling. So if you’re feeling sad you might watch a comedy show. If you feel angry you might listen to an uplifting piece of music. There may be times when this distraction skill works and times when it doesn’t, that’s okay.

🔵 PUSHING AWAY Pushing away or blocking is the conscious effort to inhibit thoughts, images and urges. This can be done by physically leaving a situation or temporarily blocking it from ones mind. You can visualise locking your problem in a safe or placing an imaginary wall between yourself and your problem. Pushing away should not be the first distraction technique used but it can be helpful in an emergency, the key is not to overuse it.

🔵 THOUGHTS Distracting yourself with thoughts can interrupt the vicious cycle of excessive rumination. To temporarily distract yourself you may recount your times tables, remember a good time in your life, notice the different colours in the room, do a puzzle or recite the lyrics to your favourite song.

🔵 SENSATIONS To help you focus on something other than your crisis, urge or emotional distress you could focus on sensations. This distraction skill will be unique for everyone and could include the pleasant sensation of stroking your pet, using an electronic massager on your feet, squeezing a stress ball, hold an ice cube in your hand, listening to loud music or wrapping yourself in a cosy blanket.

🔵 WORK WITH ME

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☐ Lewis Psychology CIC (for face to face therapy): https://www.lewispsy.org.uk
☐ Lewis Psychology Online (for online therapy): https://lewispsyonline.co.uk

🔵 ABOUT TERESA LEWIS

Teresa Lewis is the founder and Director of Lewis Psychology and a Senior Accredited psychotherapist with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP Snr. Accred). Qualified in 1995, Teresa has been providing counselling and psychotherapy treatment for nearly 30 years. Teresa holds a masters degree in counselling and psychotherapy and is a qualified EMDR Practitioner having completed training accredited with EMDR Europe. Teresa is also a qualified adult educator and an accredited Mindfulness teacher As a recognised expert in her field Teresa is frequently asked to conduct editorial reviews and endorse counselling and psychotherapy books for international publishing houses.

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