20. How To: Survive a Crisis Without Making It Worse

Welcome to the Distress Tolerance module, which is the final set of skills covered in Season 1 of the podcast! We share exciting plans that are in the works for Season 2, including a variety of guests and special topics requested by listeners. In introducing the module, we explain the goals of Distress Tolerance skills and how the module divides them into two parts: 1) Crisis Survival skills and 2) Reality Acceptance skills. Liza and Molly define the term "crisis" and give examples of what a crisis might look in your life; for example, some people who are more emotionally sensitive and who have experienced chronic invalidation might experience crises on a daily basis while others may only experience them during the hardest moments of their lives, or somewhere in between. We then describe when to use Crisis Survival skills as well as times that it would be ineffective to do so. Finally, we teach the first Crisis Survival skill: the "STOP" skill (Stop, Take a step back, Observe, and Proceed mindfully). STOP is the first skill to use when you’re extremely distressed because, as the episode title suggests, it will prevent you from impulsively acting on emotion urges that could make the situation worse. Hope you enjoy :) 

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