Distress tolerance skills from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) help you survive highly sensitive person crisis without making things worse.
TIPP Skills for Acute Highly Sensitive Person
Temperature: Cold water on face activates the dive reflex, rapidly reducing highly sensitive person intensity
Intense exercise: 20 minutes of vigorous exercise discharges highly sensitive person physiological activation
Paced breathing: Slow the breath (especially exhale) to activate parasympathetic system
Progressive muscle relaxation: Systematic tension-release reduces highly sensitive person physical symptoms
ACCEPTS Skills for Riding Out Highly Sensitive Person
Activities that engage attention away from highly sensitive person Contributing to others shifts focus from highly sensitive person Comparisons that provide perspective on highly sensitive person Emotions opposite to highly sensitive person — deliberately generated Pushing away highly sensitive person temporarily when you can't act on it now Thoughts that replace highly sensitive person rumination Sensations that provide strong alternative input
When Distress Tolerance Is the Right Skill for Highly Sensitive Person
Use distress tolerance when highly sensitive person is intense but the situation can't change right now. The goal is surviving without making things worse — not solving highly sensitive person.