22. How To: Self-Soothe and Distract With "ACCEPTS"

On today's episode, the TITW are teaching the final set of Crisis Survival Distress Tolerance skills covered in Season 1 of the podcast: Distract using "ACCEPTS" and Self-Soothe.

Before we get into it, Molly and Liza share how they practiced TIP and Urge Surfing over the last week. No surprise here, but Tipping the Temperature was immediately effective at changing the current moment and creating a new one. Liza points out that Urge Surfing can be used to ride out ineffective urges anywhere - even in the middle of a stressful Zoom call. 

We then introduce "ACCEPTS," which is an acronym of different ways to distract from life’s current stressors when addressing them head-on either isn't possible or wouldn't be effective in the moment. Using personal examples, we share different ways to distract from pain in the short-term with Activities, Contributing, Comparisons, (opposite) Emotions, Pushing away, Thoughts, and Sensations. 

Finally, we transition into teaching the Self-Soothe skill, which is about extending comfort to yourself during painful moments by engaging your five senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch). Liza coaches Molly to use this skill in real time, and we share some tricks of the trade, including how to make and keep a "self-soothe kit" on hand at all times - in case of emergency. We hope you enjoy! 

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