1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,720
Happy Monday and welcome to your
mental health mini. 

2
00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:06,440
This week you have me for a solo
and we are learning 5 DBT skills

3
00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:08,440
in 5 minutes. 
Today we are going to do. 

4
00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:10,800
A little bit of a crash course 
to DBT. 

5
00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,880
So if you were in a position 
where you're like I. 

6
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,160
Know I'm struggling for my 
mental health but I don't know. 

7
00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:17,040
What steps to take or what 
skills to? 

8
00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,240
Implement this episode. 
Is for you the first skill that 

9
00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:23,320
I want to teach you is one of 
the most iconic skills of DBT 

10
00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,200
that's called the tip skill tip 
stands for temperature, intense 

11
00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,280
exercise, paste breathing, and 
paired muscle relaxation. 

12
00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,600
It is a skill that you are using
when you are really overwhelmed.

13
00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:36,200
You are feeling really high 
level of intensity of emotion. 

14
00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:38,320
The first part of the tip skill 
is temperature. 

15
00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,640
And what you're going to do for 
this is you need a bowl of ice 

16
00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,400
water. 
You're going to take a deep 

17
00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,840
breath and submerge your face in
the ice water until you need to 

18
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,040
take another breath. 
And you're going to continue to 

19
00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,320
do this until your heart rate 
decreases, your breathing rate 

20
00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:54,800
decreases, and you feel a little
bit more calm. 

21
00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,480
With intense exercise. 
When you go on a run or you're 

22
00:00:57,480 --> 00:00:59,920
doing sprints, your body 
increases its heart rate. 

23
00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,280
As soon as you stop exercising, 
your body really quickly 

24
00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,960
decreases your heart rate and it
decreases your breathing rate 

25
00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:08,480
because it can't sustain that 
level of output for a long 

26
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,680
period of time. 
So when we have anxiety or heart

27
00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,600
rate increases, our breathing 
rate increases. 

28
00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,440
So if you are having a panic 
attack and you do some sprints, 

29
00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,360
your body will work to decrease 
its heart rate from that 

30
00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,800
physical output and it'll bring 
it past that threshold that it 

31
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,800
was at with the anxiety or anger
or whatever emotion it is you're

32
00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,800
experiencing. 
The first P and tip is paste 

33
00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:31,520
breathe. 
So what you're going to do is 

34
00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,480
you're going to inhale for two 
counts, you're going to hold for

35
00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,360
one count, exhale for three 
counts, hold for one count. 

36
00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,600
And the idea is to make your 
exhale slightly longer than your

37
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:42,960
inhale. 
You're going to do this for a 

38
00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:46,280
couple of minutes. 
And the final P and tip is 

39
00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:48,800
progressive muscle relaxation. 
So you're going to pair this 

40
00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,000
with your pace breathing. 
And as you inhale, you're going 

41
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,240
to clench your muscles further. 
You're going to hold for a 

42
00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,000
minute and then you're going to 
exhale and release the tension 

43
00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,720
in your muscles and you are then
releasing that tension below 

44
00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:00,800
what it? 
What was that when you were 

45
00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:02,800
anxious, angry, stressed, 
etcetera. 

46
00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:05,360
The next goal I'm going to teach
you is the STOP skill. 

47
00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,000
You are using this when you are 
extremely emotionally 

48
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,720
distressed. 
Your actions and decisions are 

49
00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:13,120
entirely being controlled by 
your emotions. 

50
00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,760
Stop is another acronym. 
We're going to stop. 

51
00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,840
We're going to take a step back.
We're going to observe and 

52
00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:21,200
proceed mindfully. 
The first thing you're doing is 

53
00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:23,080
you're physically and mentally 
stopping. 

54
00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,640
You are physically stopping in 
whatever situation you are in 

55
00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,400
and you are mentally stopping. 
The thought that you're having, 

56
00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:30,880
you're going to take a step 
back. 

57
00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:33,560
Ideally this is physical. 
If you are in a situation where 

58
00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:35,480
you're having a panic attack, 
maybe you step out and go to the

59
00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,120
bathroom. 
If you are in an argument, you 

60
00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,560
are leaving the argument. 
Next step is to observe after we

61
00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,000
are out of the situation that's 
bringing up this intense 

62
00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,720
emotion. 
Hopefully our distress goes down

63
00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,120
a bit and then we can kind of 
reflect on what's happening, 

64
00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,040
what is going on in this 
argument, what is effective, 

65
00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:52,360
what's not effective? 
If you're anxious, what was 

66
00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,080
making me anxious? 
What is the actual threat here? 

67
00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:57,720
And based on that analysis, 
we're going to proceed 

68
00:02:57,720 --> 00:02:59,080
mindfully. 
We're going to make a decision 

69
00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,200
that makes sense. 
That's the stop skill. 

70
00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,800
And if you were ever in a 
crisis, that's the skill I want 

71
00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,000
you to remember because it's 
like the first step you take the

72
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,040
next skill. 
As I was reflecting on the 

73
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,840
scale, I was like, this is what 
literally helped me become 

74
00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:13,960
undepressed. 
And that is opposite action. 

75
00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,960
So with opposite action, we are 
looking at what our emotions are

76
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,880
telling us to do and we're doing
the opposite so we can be as 

77
00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,280
effective as possible. 
Because if we ran away from 

78
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,640
every single thing that we were 
scared of, we would never be 

79
00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:28,360
able to do anything in life. 
So to give you some examples of 

80
00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:30,720
opposite actions for emotions 
that you we want to do the 

81
00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:32,400
opposite of, we'll start with 
depression. 

82
00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:35,960
Depression tells us to isolate. 
It tells us to withdraw. 

83
00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,240
It tells us to lay in bed to 
avoid our responsibilities. 

84
00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,160
And what's funny is that if we 
do the opposite of that, if we'd

85
00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,240
go and engage with people, if we
get out and about, if we'd 

86
00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,280
fulfill our responsibilities, we
feel better. 

87
00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,560
Another common one is anxiety. 
Anxiety tells us to avoid 

88
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,160
because there's a threat, but 
anxiety doesn't always 

89
00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:55,960
accurately interpret those 
threats. 

90
00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:58,480
We blow them out of proportion. 
So we'll do the opposite and 

91
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,800
that long term will make that 
anxiety go away and decrease the

92
00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:03,960
emotional intensity. 
The next skill we're going to 

93
00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:05,480
learn is he check the fact 
skill. 

94
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,560
It's really simple, it's really 
effective, and any high stakes 

95
00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,040
decision or emotional situation,
you got to pull the skill out of

96
00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,440
your pocket and implement. 
What we are doing here is we are

97
00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,000
checking the level of emotional 
intensity. 

98
00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:22,600
The caveat here is all emotions 
are valid, but the emotional 

99
00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:24,480
intensity isn't always 
justified. 

100
00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:26,600
Even if you're having an 
insanely disproportionate 

101
00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:28,040
response, the emotions are still
valid. 

102
00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:31,440
We still have to validate those.
But then after we validated and 

103
00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:33,920
said, OK, this makes sense that 
this is what's coming up for me,

104
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,560
we say, is it effective and 
justified and proportionate for 

105
00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,680
me to be this anxious about this
or this, angry about this or 

106
00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,480
this sad about this? 
And then that's where we're 

107
00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,520
working to shift the emotion. 
We're accepting the emotions and

108
00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:47,920
then we're working to change 
them. 

109
00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,880
The last skill is cope ahead. 
So coping ahead is you are 

110
00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:54,920
mentally walking through your 
worst case scenario and you are 

111
00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:57,760
being intentional and planning 
every single coping skill that 

112
00:04:57,760 --> 00:04:59,720
you would use to get through the
situation. 

113
00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:01,680
You're almost doing a mini 
exposure therapy. 

114
00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,000
So if you are scared of flying, 
you are mentally like, OK, I'm 

115
00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:06,440
pulling up to the curb at the 
airport. 

116
00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:08,480
My heart rate is increasing. 
What am I going to do? 

117
00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:09,680
I'm going to do some deep 
breathing. 

118
00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:11,440
I'm walking towards security 
now. 

119
00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:12,840
It's kind of feeling hard to 
breathe. 

120
00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:14,960
What am I going to do? 
I'm going to put a headphone in.

121
00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:16,640
I'm going to listen to some 
music you go through. 

122
00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:18,800
The. 
Entire airport experience, you 

123
00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:20,840
talk about what skills you would
use at each point. 

124
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:22,960
All of these skills that you are
going to use, you're going to 

125
00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:24,520
play on it. 
And then when you actually go 

126
00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,400
through the situation, you 
actually get on your flight, you

127
00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:29,440
know exactly how you're going to
cope with that worst case 

128
00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,760
scenario, most intense emotional
reaction possible. 

129
00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,640
If you enjoyed this weeks mental
health mini you can listen to 

130
00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,800
the full episode. 
It is episode #1. 132 with yours

131
00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,120
truly a link. 
To the full episode is in the 

132
00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,560
show notes and as always, make 
sure to leave a review, 

133
00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,520
subscribe, share with a friend 
or family member and follow at. 

134
00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,080
At She Persisted podcast. 
Thanks for listening.