DBT Skills - Distress Tolerance - Radical Acceptance

Distress tolerance skills constitute a natural progression from mindfulness skills. The skills increase your ability to accept, in a non-judgmental way both oneself and the current situation.
Essentially, distress tolerance is the ability to:

• "perceive the environment without putting demands on it to be different"
• "experience the emotional state without attempting to change it"
• "observe thoughts and actions without attempting to stop or control the outcomes".

The stance here is a non-judgmental (acceptance); which does NOT mean that it one of approval.

ACCEPTANCE OF REALITY DOES NOT EQUAL APPROVING OF REALITY

Believing that something is wrong with us generates a deep and persistent suffering. This suffering emerges in crippling self-judgments, conflict in our relationships, addictions, perfectionism, loneliness, isolation and overwork (to name a few). These patterns keep our lives constricted and unfulfilled.

Accepting reality helps individuals accept and tolerate themselves, others, the world and 'reality' as it is, 'just in this moment'.

Applying RADICAL ACCEPTANCE / accepting reality involves developing the capacity to tolerate pain skillfully in order to adopt and attitude of acceptance.

Radical is meant to imply that the acceptance has to come from deep within (when you are actually fighting it).

Radical Acceptance empowers genuine change: healing fear, shame and helping to build loving, authentic relationships.

Radical Acceptance is letting go of fighting reality.

Acceptance is a way to turn suffering into pain that can be tolerated. Pain is a part of living, whether it is physical or emotional. Refusing to accept pain creates suffering. Suffering comes when people resist reality as it is (at that moment, not forever). Refusal to 'accept reality' and the pain that goes along with it interferes with reducing pain. Through the practice of radical acceptance, we can shift suffering to 'just pain'.