Module 3. Emotion Regulation: (Discussion #5) ABC PLEASE - Cope Ahead ("C")
DBTuesday is a series of posts where we explore skills and concepts from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).
What is coping ahead?
The third emotion regulation skill in ABC PLEASE for reducing vulnerability to negative emotions is coping ahead.
Coping ahead involves creating and rehearsing a plan for a stressful situation before it happens.
Benefits of coping ahead
1) Can lead to more helpful actions
It can be difficult to come up with a wise course of action if you’re in the middle of a stressful situation, have limited time to decide what to do, and might be in a more emotional state of mind.
Preparing a plan beforehand gives you the benefit of being in a different state of mind and having more time to consider different options.
2) Can help break cycles of unhelpful actions
If you don’t have a plan for what to do, you are more likely to revert to whatever your usual impulsive/automatic response is, which might not be the best option.
Deciding ahead of time how you plan to respond and practicing that response makes it easier to act skillfully in the moment.
How to cope ahead
There are five steps to coping ahead. The first two steps are creating an action plan and the last three steps are rehearsing that action plan.
1) Describe the difficult situation
- Think about what specifically might happen that could create discomfort
- Think about what emotions you might have
- Think about what actions you might have an urge to do that would might the situation worse
2) Decide what action(s) you want to do
- These could be coping skills or problem-solving skills
- Think about what you will do about the situation, your emotions, and your action urges
3) Imagine the difficult situation
- Visualize yourself being present in that situation (as opposed to watching it)
4) Rehearse your actions
- Rehearse in your mind what you will do to cope with the situation.
- This includes actions, thoughts, what you’ll say, and how you’ll say it.
5) Relax afterwards
- Recover from any stress you might feel after rehearsing.
- Some options for this could include distress tolerance skills such as self-soothing, TIPP, ACCEPTS, or IMPROVE
Reflection
What is a situation you sometimes encounter where coping ahead might be able to help?
Sources:
https://dbt.tools/emotional_regulation/cope-ahead.php
https://bayareadbtcc.com/cope-ahead-part-1/
https://dbtselfhelp.com/dbt-skills-list/emotion-regulation/abc-please/
@QuietMagic
Wow, thank you for this Magic 😊 It’s so helpful 💛
@GloriaD
Glad it felt helpful!
@QuietMagic
What is a situation you sometimes encounter where coping ahead might be able to help?
:’) there is a big one, but I don’t want to go into details about that 😛
But the biggest situation that coping ahead might be able to help is when and how I express how I feel. Sometimes my emotions are so big I have to use coping skills with them so they don’t turn into nasty ways of expressing them
(I hope this makes sense 😭 if not, sorry, sometimes I don’t make sense when I’ve had bad days *wanders off*) 😀
@emotionalTalker2260
That's okay to not go into detail. 💜
That sounds great what you're describing. Sometimes you have a lot of feelings and if you're trying to express them in the heat of the moment, it becomes difficult to do or might come out in a way that doesn't feel like it fits your values for being kind/polite.
So the application of coping ahead you're considering might be to try to think about that situation (needing to express feelings) ahead of time, figure out how you want to do it, and rehearse doing it before you have to actually do it for real.