by Welcome to the unit on Distress Tolerance — the one place where we teach avoidance as a skill. I know, that doesn’t sound right. We are taught our whole lives to face problems and address issues, not to avoid them. Yet, that is what Distracting is.
The caveat is that we can only avoid until we calm down and stabilize emotions to the point where we can address the problem (in the most effective way). We don’t get to avoid forever.
Crisis Survival Strategies are about getting through a difficult time . . . without making it worse. I’ve had people come to me and say that the skills did not work. Upon further questioning, they said that they still felt bad, and that was their criterion for the skills not working. However, they also admitted that they did not kill themselves, self-harm, or engage in reckless behavior. That may be the evidence that the skills did work. They managed to get through the moment without making it worse.