Feeling distressed? 4 skills to quickly lower emotional intensity : NPR
NPR • • entertainment
Key Points:
- Shireen Rizvi, a psychiatry professor, emphasizes healthier coping mechanisms for distress, advocating for acceptance and effective responses rather than harmful behaviors like lashing out or substance use.
- Rizvi and co-author Jesse Finkelstein's book, "Real Skills for Real Life," teaches dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills through engaging visuals to help manage difficult emotions and relationships.
- The TIP technique—Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, and Paired muscle relaxation—is recommended for moments of extreme distress to quickly reduce emotional intensity and regain clarity.
- Each TIP component works by engaging physiological responses: cold water triggers the mammalian dive reflex, intense exercise releases endorphins, paced breathing slows the heart rate, and muscle relaxation enhances calmness.
- Rizvi underscores that intense distress is temporary and will pass, encouraging people to tolerate difficult emotions rather than trying to eliminate them immediately.
