STAIR Narrative Therapy: 5. Distress Tolerance — Moving Towards the Life You Want
STAIR Narrative Therapy: 5. Distress Tolerance — Moving Towards the Life You Want
Exploring how learning to tolerate difficult feelings can help us pursue meaningful goals, reconnect with positive experiences and create more choice in our lives.
Have you ever avoided doing something important because you knew it would make you anxious, uncomfortable or upset?
Perhaps you would like to develop a new relationship, repair a ruptured one, return to an activity you once enjoyed, pursue a career opportunity or have a difficult conversation. You may know that taking a step forward matters to you, yet find yourself held back by the feelings it brings up.
When we have experienced trauma, avoiding distress can become an understandable way of protecting ourselves. But over time, this protection can sometimes restrict our choices, relationships and opportunities to enjoy life.
In this fifth article in my STAIR Narrative Therapy series, I explore distress tolerance: the ability to experience difficult feelings without automatically responding in ways that may be...