How DBT can work for stress

  DBT's TIPP skills

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) uses acronyms for almost every skill. TIPP stands for Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing and Progressive relaxation. The theory or the reasoning behind it is when we are feeling intense emotions - whether that be stress, anxiety, fear, overwhelmed, etc., our body goes into fight or flight mode. This is an innate reaction (innate meaning that we have no control over). It happens automatically. It's a survival skill to protect us from danger. So if there's a  woolly mammoth chasing us and we need to either fight or flee, our bodies react very quickly. We automatically respond to this danger by increasing heart rate, breathing more shallow, and digestion actually stops, and so does the part of the brain that problem solves. So the critical part of the brain that, you know, makes decisions based on facts, and all that stuff is put on pause.

We don't need it when we're responding automatically. We either get the heck out of there or were fighting off whatever danger is threatening our survival. Again this response is innate. We have no control to stop it from happening. The problem is that it doesn't recognize the difference between a true life and death stressor, by being run over by a car versus the stress with dealing with an irate customer or dealing with the stressors of raising children or significant other or any of the other millions of other stressors we can have. It doesn't know the difference, and our body goes into this stress response automatically. It doesn't know the difference between a life and death stress or just a mental stressor. These are intention emotions, so when we're in this intense emotional state, the part of the brain that critically thinks and problem solves is put on pause. This is why we don't make very good decisions when we're in this intense state; we behave impulsively when we're experiencing intense emotions. We make poor choices, and the reason, like I said, is because we're not thinking critically. Our problem-solving capacity doesn't exist.

 So the solution is to bring those intense emotions down. To let our bodies know we're not in a life and death situation to regain homeostasis. So that our heart rates come down, our digestive system is working in the part of the brain that can problem solve is engaged. That we can now problem-solve whatever it is that's causing us distress. The TIPP skills are a means of doing just that. When you're in that frantic state, here are some things that you can try.

• Ø  You can do extreme temperatures. Take a cold shower or immerse your face in a bowl of ice water or have something cold handy like a bag of frozen vegetables or keep something in the freezer like an ice pack. I know people that freeze oranges. Just something cold in your hand will bring your intensity down.

 

• Ø   Intense exercise - doing 50 jumping jacks or 20 jumping jacks, whatever it is that you're able to do. Run around the block running, in place, or jumping rope. The key is to make it intense. You can put some music on full blast and then just run around the house, dance, or something. You might say, well, doesn't that cause your body to stay in that intense state? No, it's solving the problem for your physical body by saying YES, we're running; we're getting the heck out of there! It's kind of like tricking our mines and solving the problem; then, it can return to its normal state.

 

 

• Ø   Paced breathing - so deep breathing, but in a paced way, so you want to have nice deep belly breaths. You can actually put your hand over your belly so that when you're taking a deep breath all the way down to your stomach, your hand should rise. Your belly should expand. Then when you exhale, it should contract, and your hand will go down. Pace breathing you will inhale for four counts. Hold your breath for four counts, then exhale, release your breath for five counts. You inhale 1234, hold 1234 and exhale 123.  When you start the paced breathing in an intense state, you will probably be breathing rapidly—being mindful of that, try to slow it down with each cycle. Do that at least ten times ten complete breathes, slowing your breath a little bit more each time.

 

•  Ø    The second P in TIPP is pressure muscle relaxation. You will squeeze your muscles contracting them as tightly as you can, then release them. You can either do it from head to toe or toe to head. You'll focus on one part of the body; let's say you start with my toes. You'll squeeze your toes, hold and then release. Then you'll squeeze your calves as tight as you can and then release them. Then your thighs, abs, chest, arms, and face. Once you reach the head, you can go back down, from head to toe. So it's squeezing the muscle, contracting the muscles, as tight as you, and then releasing them, each individual body part.

The point of these skills is to bring the intense emotions down. It's not going to solve your problem or erase the stress. Your problems will probably still be there. If you're having difficulty or challenges with your kids or situation, it's not going to be solved by putting your face in the freezer, right? But it will bring the intensity down, so then you can problem solve. Then you can use other skills like pros and cons or whatever to actually think of ways of solving the problem. Like most skills, it will take practice, so be patient with yourself. Practice makes progress!

I hope this helps you. And remember to live your life enthusiastically, cause there is no other way.

 

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