According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
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Stressor: a stimulus that causes stress
Stress: a state resulting from a stressor - especially : one of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium Distress: “pain or suffering affecting the body, a bodily part, or the mind” “DISTRESS implies an external and usually temporary cause of great physical or mental strain and stress.” (“AGONY suggests pain too intense to be borne.” Typical distress is not discomfort too intense to bear - only the extreme limits of distress would fit that definition.) |
Without the stimulus of a stressor, we would not feel the motivating tension (push or pull towards action to reduce that tension to bring us back into a comfortable equilibrium).
Distress is a part of life that every person will face at some point in our lives. There is no way to avoid it. We all go through situations at some time or another where we have stressors that elicit upsetting emotions, in which we are not able to take any effective action to ease the stress the stressor is causing.
CURRENT STRESS WITHOUT RESOURSES:
We all face situations in our daily lives in which we have a stressor stimulus to which we do not have the resources (time, money, social support, coping skills, etc.) available to respond in a way that will restore our equilibrium. We can-not-do what we can-not-do, no matter how pressing the stressor is. The stronger the stressors push us to act in a manner that would relieve the pressure (to which we are not able to accomplish) the higher the level of distress will climb. |
People with distress intolerance believe that they are not able to fully experience uncomfortable, unpleasant, or aversive emotions or sensations. This perceived inability to tolerate distress often causes an extreme fear of experiencing those emotions considered to be intolerable or unbearable.
As a result of the fear that the emotions would overwhelm and be unmanageable, a person with distress intolerance will usually feel a frantic, desperate need to escape uncomfortable emotions. It is not the intensity of the unpleasant emotion itself that determines a person’s level of distress intolerance, but rather how unmanageable and unbearable the emotion seems to the person experiencing it, and how strongly their desire is to avoid or escape it. |
A person’s automatic reaction to distress is to do something to alleviate the suffering. This urge to respond with an impulsive behavior may even be extremely strong. Even though some of our impulses have seemed to “work” in the short-term - by giving us temporary reduction of our distress - in the long-run they can actually make it worse. Responding to these impulsive urges are a very unhealthy way to deal with strong emotions.
Research confirms that the more we struggle mentally to avoid, escape, or stop feeling our emotional distress, the emotional distress actually intensifies, and the distress is magnified. Struggling to escape emotional distress is about as effective as thrashing around in quicksand in a struggle to escape it. The harder we struggle to get away from it, the deeper we sink into it.
Impulsively avoiding discomfort paradoxically prolongs your mental distress. It is important to remember - even though our automatic reaction to suffering is to alleviate the distress, we do not have to give into our urges and react to everything. We can just tolerate it. |
... are exclusively designed to tolerate the moment as it is, tolerating any emotion that presents itself, without engaging in impulsive and self-destructive behaviors. All of us at times face situations that we have no control over, that there is just nothing we can do except endure the situation until it resolves on its own. Some of these can cause us tremendous pain. In these situations, these skills can be critically valuable.
These are a set of skills that will help us survive, cope, and manage intense emotional states (those strong emotions that we feel unable to tolerate) WITHOUT making things worse. They are used to reduce destructive, impulsive behaviors
These are a set of skills that will help us survive, cope, and manage intense emotional states (those strong emotions that we feel unable to tolerate) WITHOUT making things worse. They are used to reduce destructive, impulsive behaviors
Complete Homework Questions: Intro to Distress Tolerance
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