Module 2. Distress Tolerance: (Discussion #6) Pros/Cons

DBTuesday is a series of posts where we explore skills and concepts from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).

This is one of several posts focusing on distress tolerance, which is the second module of DBT skills training. See this post for general info about DBT and this post for more info about distress tolerance.

What is Pros/Cons

Pros/Cons in the context of DBT involves looking at the pros and cons of tolerating distress vs. acting on crisis urges.

Crisis urges involve a strong desire to do actions that alleviate distress in the short-term but may have negative long-term consequences (e.g. dangerous, addictive, contrary to one’s goals).

Research has shown that for people who are interested in changing a behavior, listing pros and cons can increase commitment to that change and improve the chances of successfully changing.

How to do Pros/Cons

The process for Pros/Cons is:

• Identify what behavior you have an urge to do
• Make a list of the pros and cons of acting on that urge
• Make a list of the pros and cons of resisting that urge

Here are some questions that may be helpful to ask while doing this:

• How effective is the behavior in the short-term?
• How effective is the behavior in the long-term?
• Is the behavior damaging to any of my goals?

Once you have finished doing Pros/Cons, you can use it in the following way:

• Keep a copy of your Pros/Cons list handy for when you have urges
• Think about the positive effects of resisting the urge
• Think about the negative effects of acting on the urge

Reflection

Feel free to share any thoughts you may have about Pros/Cons.

Sources:

https://www.theinsightclinic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DT_HANDOUT_5_-_PROS_CONS.pdf

https://dbt.tools/distress_tolerance/pro-con.php

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/74496E66A2D5625296F9B2EEE805B359/S1352465813000878a.pdf