Dr. Marsha Linehan makes a lot of sense to me. And not just because she approves of the occasional piece of cake. A psychologist and clinical researcher, Dr. Linehan’s intention was to find ways individuals could manage difficult emotions in order to act effectively and not make matters worse.
Although she focused on a clinical population, I have found her work invaluable in making useful and effective decisions in my own daily life, especially under stress. Thank you Dr. Linehan
These days you may be experiencing more stress and overload, unexpected responsibility or unusually worried thinking. And, at the same time it has never been more important to be balanced, effective, creative and forward thinking. Yet when a certain level of worry is reached we actually have diminished access to the parts of our brain necessary to do this.
There are many strategies to improve our mental capacity to succeed. Some strategies, like changing the story we tell ourselves about the situation or our ability to handle it, are also addressed in Thoughts From the Edge.
The Linehan strategies I am sharing in these next posts are intended to be used in very specific situations. They are extremely useful if you feel overloaded and you can’t immediately change the situation but demands must be met. Or, if you really need to stand back and catch a mental or an emotional break. And if your usually reliable internal coach is off line and you need a moment to re-engage.
The Three Strategies
* Self Soothing using some or all of your five senses and yes, this is where you can eat cake.
* Distraction
* Improve the Moment
These strategies are not meant to solve or avoid ordinary everyday problems, or to be used as habitual coping measures over the long term.
The full breakdown and description of each set of strategies will be available today and tomorrow on this website.