distress tolerance Archives

CBT for Anger Management Problems

October 20, 2022 by Justin Arocho, Ph.D.

Few emotional problems are as destructive as unhealthy anger. Fortunately, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT, can be very helpful if your anger is hard to control.

Anger is one of the basic human emotions. It’s universal – everyone feels angry at times. Anger is often labeled as a “bad” emotion. But the truth is it isn’t – it can actually be helpful to feel angry! For example, when someone acts against you or you experience injustice, anger can help motivate you to stand up for yourself or to fight back.

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How to Be Awesome at Self-Soothing and Self-Care

November 16, 2020 by Rachel Chang, Psy.D.

We all need the ability to soothe and care for ourselves. But how can we best do these things? Here we offer some tips to help you master these important skills.

Updated: June 26, 2022

We Need All the Help We Can Get

21st-century living can be very demanding. People are often consumed by their day-to-day responsibilities such as work, household chores, or taking care of loved ones. Often there is little choice but to focus on the next task on the to-do list. As a result, we neglect to take the time to care for ourselves, which can leave us feeling stressed and burned out.

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The DBT STOP Skill: How to Not Make a Bad Situation Worse

August 3, 2020 by Dr. Paul Greene

The STOP skill in DBT is one of the crisis survival skills (along with TIP skills, IMPROVE the Moment, and others). Use it when your emotions are threatening to get the best of you and you’re tempted to take unhelpful actions.

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DBT: IMPROVE the Moment — How to Make Crises Bearable

July 27, 2020 by Dr. Paul Greene

“Improving the Moment” refers to a set of strategies recommended in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to help you get through emotionally trying situations. These skills help in situations when our usual self-soothing efforts aren’t getting the job done.