Distress Tolerance: T I P Skills

Distress Tolerance

TIP Skills

Multiple Choice

Distress Tolerance is...

• punching someone when mad

• dealing with difficult emotions

Multiple Choice

ACCEPTS stands for...

• anger, cool, calm, enraged, please stop, tired, sad

• activities, contribute, compare, emotions, pushing away, thoughts, sensations

Multiple Choice

I.M.P.R.O.V.E. stands for...

• imagery, meaning, prayer, relaxation, one thing at a time, vacation, encouragement

• insanity, magnification, protest, rest, one person speaks, vacation, engagement

Emotion Thermometer

about 65-95 we use ACCEPTS, IMPROVE, and Self-Soothe

Emotion Thermometer

The skills we will learn moving forward (called TIP) is for when we are at the 99-100 level (angry, out of control, fight or flight).

Change body chemistry

When we are feeling an emotion at that high 99-100 level, we do not have the capacity to use the other skills to distract us. We need to do things to calm our body biologically.

Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS)

Fight or flight, activated in moments of distress. When activated you may experience the following: Heart rate, blood pressure both increase, digestion slows down, the body gets ready for action.

Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)

Opposite of fight or flight more like "rest and slow down" system. The goal of TIP is to activate PNS

Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced Breathing

Use these skills when: You are completely caught up in emotion, your brain is not processing information, you are emotionally overwhelmed

T: Temperature

Put your face in a bowl of cold water; hold an ice pack to your eyes or cheeks, splash cold water on your face.

-This simulates falling into cold water-your body's PNS reacts by doing the opposite of the SNS would do in a situation with cold.