Practical strategies for managing emotional distress
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-CBT-is founded upon a simple yet powerful idea: our thoughts about a particular situation-not the situation itself-shape how we feel and consequently how we interact within our environment.
An essential coping strategy is the acronym ACCEPTS-a set of practical techniques designed to help individuals tolerate and deal with overwhelming emotions in the moment.
What does ACCEPTS stand for?
- Activities
- Contributing
- Comparisons,
- Emotions
- Pushing away
- Thoughts
- Sensations
A- Activities
Immersing oneself in activities helps to shift attention away from distressing thoughts by keeping one’s mind & body occupied
C- Contributing
Contributing to others-volunteering, offering support, helping-moves attention outward rather than inward
C- Comparisons
Making comparisons involves objectively reflecting on times when our distress felt worse than currently, or acknowledging that others face similar or even greater challenges
E- Emotions
This strategy means intentionally generating different emotions using meaningful memories such listening to music, watching a film or perhaps using humour
P-Pushing away
Pushing away refers to temporarily ‘shelving’ distressing thoughts-not suppressing them indefinitely but compartmentalising these negative thoughts and postponing engagement with them
T- Thoughts
This CBT strategy means an attempt to redirect one’s attention to structured thinking-engaging executive functioning-factual thinking in that moment over emotional reactivity
S- Sensations
Sensations involving physical stimuli-holding ice, taking a cold shower or smelling a strong scent cause emotional arousal to decrease and cognitive clarity to improve.