Coping With Difficult Emotions & Triggers: ACCEPTS
One of the most challenging parts of recovering and healing is going through triggers and accepting they may happen. Triggers, especially in the beginning, can pop up out of nowhere, and we need to have some tools in our toolkit to manage them.
One of those great tools comes from DBT (Dialectical behavior therapy) called ACCEPTS:
ACCEPTS
• Activities: Do something you enjoy.
• Contributing: Take the focus off you. Acts of service help you as well as others.
• Comparisons: Are there similar upsetting situations you successfully navigated through?
• Emotions: How can you evoke the opposite emotion to what you’re feeling?
• Push Away: Use a healthy distraction if things seem too much to handle.
• Thoughts: Focus on reframing the negative thoughts into positive ones.
• Sensations: Engage one or more of the five senses; how can you self-soothe healthily?
Examples of ACCEPTS:
• Activities: Ask yourself what you like to do for fun. Be sure it’s not what you do to please others: walking in nature, working out, meditation, dancing, playing with your pet, cleaning, gardening, reading, puzzles, painting, and knitting; the choice is yours.
• Contributing: How can you make a difference in someone else’s life? Is there somewhere you can volunteer? Or a neighbor that can benefit from your assistance? Is there litter that needs to be picked up? Perhaps a non-profit in your community would be a good fit for you.
• Comparisons: If you’ve been able to navigate this area successfully before (no matter how long), what did you do that caused you success? If you couldn’t do it before, is there anyone around you that has? What do you admire in their journey?
• Emotions: Begin by identifying the emotions you’re experiencing. List how you’d like to feel and what you can do to feel that way.
• Push Away: It’s okay to step back and pause when things feel overwhelming. Imagine your struggles as leaves on a tree, gently falling to the ground as you let them go.
• Thoughts: Instead of thinking, “I can’t believe how expensive gas is now,” try, “I’m grateful I have a car to put gas in.” Or, “Why has this happened to me?” try, “I’m strong enough to get through this.”
• Sensations: There are a myriad of grounding techniques that can help bring you to the present and pull you out of a trigger. Some include deep breathing (yes, it really works), counting, fidget toys, touching something, naming items around you, chewing on a piece of ice, and getting up and moving.
Sending everyone happy and healthy vibes,
Laura
