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One of the core skills of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder is a technique called "Opposite to Emotion Action".
Opposite to Emotion Action the last suggested technique for changing painful emotions. Like all of the techniques we have been learning about, it takes a lot of practice to be able to use it skillfully. The idea behind this technique is that it can help to deal with distressing emotions by setting into motion an action that is helpful, not harmful. Doing this counteracts the suffering you might otherwise feel because of the distressing emotion.
For example, if we are angry, there are many actions that we might take to express our angry feelings. But if the action that we take is one that is opposite to the emotion we feel, like walking away from a situation when we are angry, or distracting ourselves with something nice, then we have put our energy into something that is eventually going to make us feel better. In this way, we not only reversed our action (walked away instead of yelling at someone), but we also began to make a change in our angry feelings. We didn't escalate or heighten our feelings, but did something that made the feelings decrease, by putting something positive in their place.
It's important to know that this skill is not about trying to suppress our emotions. We are using that angry feeling to take a different action. The result of this will be a gradual change in our emotions.
The kinds of situations in which it is appropriate to use this technique are ones in which the emotions might not be realistic to the situation we are in, maybe out of proportion, or escalating, or be emotions that we want to challenge or change.
Just now I tried that with Reg. He'd been out all day looking at apartments and got home about ten minutes ago. I not only offered to make him some supper, but I also gave him one of the packs of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups I picked up this afternoon at the Big Dollar store in Selkirk.
I actually feel a little bit better. Wow... maybe those therapists ARE onto something after all. (As if three or so years of weekly DBT therapy didn't teach me just that. ;-))
More about the wedding we went to this afternoon later if I have the energy for it. Oh, and I got a new lambskin leather soft-sided briefcase -- actually a laptop bag, but more than suitable for the various papers I end up hauling hither, thither, and yon.
Opposite to Emotion Action the last suggested technique for changing painful emotions. Like all of the techniques we have been learning about, it takes a lot of practice to be able to use it skillfully. The idea behind this technique is that it can help to deal with distressing emotions by setting into motion an action that is helpful, not harmful. Doing this counteracts the suffering you might otherwise feel because of the distressing emotion.
For example, if we are angry, there are many actions that we might take to express our angry feelings. But if the action that we take is one that is opposite to the emotion we feel, like walking away from a situation when we are angry, or distracting ourselves with something nice, then we have put our energy into something that is eventually going to make us feel better. In this way, we not only reversed our action (walked away instead of yelling at someone), but we also began to make a change in our angry feelings. We didn't escalate or heighten our feelings, but did something that made the feelings decrease, by putting something positive in their place.
It's important to know that this skill is not about trying to suppress our emotions. We are using that angry feeling to take a different action. The result of this will be a gradual change in our emotions.
The kinds of situations in which it is appropriate to use this technique are ones in which the emotions might not be realistic to the situation we are in, maybe out of proportion, or escalating, or be emotions that we want to challenge or change.
Just now I tried that with Reg. He'd been out all day looking at apartments and got home about ten minutes ago. I not only offered to make him some supper, but I also gave him one of the packs of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups I picked up this afternoon at the Big Dollar store in Selkirk.
I actually feel a little bit better. Wow... maybe those therapists ARE onto something after all. (As if three or so years of weekly DBT therapy didn't teach me just that. ;-))
More about the wedding we went to this afternoon later if I have the energy for it. Oh, and I got a new lambskin leather soft-sided briefcase -- actually a laptop bag, but more than suitable for the various papers I end up hauling hither, thither, and yon.
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