True Recovery

The goal with distraction is to get our mind off the issue. We can apply this to stressful things going on in our lives or apply it directly to an urge to “fall off the wagon”. DBT offers a series of tools to get our mind away from potentially damaging thoughts. Remember the acronym: A C C E P T S.

Activities – Find or schedule something to do to redirect the focus. Call a friend and go out for a dreive. Watch a movie, go to the gym and exercise, or take a walk. something fun that's as far from whatever dysfunctional behaviors your trying to conquer as possible. Hopefully, you’ll be away long enough to let the drive pass.

Contributing – Do some volunteer work somewhere. If you don't have a regular charity, church, school or other group you support, there's a great site called VolunteerMatch, where I've searched to find volunteer opportunities. They have one time, ad hoc and regularly scheduled volunteer needs there. You can even just call a friend with kids, and offer yourself as a free babysitter for a night.

Comparisons – Compare your situation with someone else in much worse shape. The goal is to put your bad situation in perspective. So, watch a tragic soap opera, read some tragic news stories, call a friend who's in worse shape than you and allow yourself to accept that your own situation could be much worse. This isn't the most effective tool for me, but it does work for some.

Opposite Emotions – Identify the emotion that you’re feeling and find a way to experience the opposite emotion… negate it. So, if you're feeling sad, go do something silly… watch a funny movie or TV show… go to a comedy club. If you're feeling exceptionally upbeat (invincible) perhaps read a sad, tragic book, news story, or watch a tragic movie… maybe even a horror film to scare yourself.

Push away – Dig deep and imagine the thoughts you're having as a physical entity… a couch, table, dresser… then visualize using all your might to push it away, completely out of sight. In your mind, picture an imaginary box… grab the thought and put it in the box. Tape it up, tie it up, put it in another box then visualize putting it in a safe, tossing it out the window, or burning it. Get rid of that thought metaphorically. I recently watched a television show, where a man wrote down his troublesome thoughts, tossed it into plastic container and put it in his freezer. When his freezer was full, he took them all outside and smashed them up.

Thoughts – Put your mind to another task. The trick here is to do some ACTIVE thinking; something with a bit of a challenge. Recite the alphabet backwards and forwards. Do a crossword puzzle, jigsaw puzzle, play a game of chess, or a video game. Go outside and count all the stars in the sky.