ACCEPTS — structured distraction from crisis
Use Activities, Contributing, Comparisons, Emotions, Pushing away, Thoughts, and Sensations to redirect attention during a crisis.
Why it works
Attention amplifies emotion: sustained focus on crisis pain intensifies it through re-activation and rumination. ACCEPTS does not deny or suppress the pain — it temporarily redirects attention elsewhere, giving the emotional response time to crest and begin to subside on its own. This is a short-term buffer, not avoidance, because it is time-limited and paired with eventual return to the problem.
How to do it
- Activities: do something absorbing enough to require attention (a game, a task, a walk).
- Contributing: help someone else — it shifts the focus outward and activates a different emotional system.
- Comparisons: think of times you tolerated hardship successfully — evidence you can do it now.
- Emotions: generate a different emotion intentionally (a funny video, a piece of music).
- Pushing away: mentally set the crisis on a shelf for now, with a time to return to it.
Evidence
ACCEPTS is a distress tolerance skill taught within DBT. The attention-redirection mechanism draws on cognitive and affective science showing that emotion is sustained partly by attentional focus. Contributing aligns with the "helper’s high" — prosocial behavior acutely improves mood. Experimental emotion-regulation work shows distraction is the more effective choice specifically at high emotional intensity, which is exactly the crisis window ACCEPTS is built for. (clinical)
ACCEPTS is a bridging tool for crisis moments, not a long-term strategy. Overusing distraction instead of eventually addressing the source problem is experiential avoidance.
Sources
- Sheppes, G., & Meiran, N. (2007). Better late than never? On the dynamics of online regulation of sadness using distraction and cognitive reappraisal. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(11), 1518–1532.
- Sheppes, G., Scheibe, S., Suri, G., & Gross, J. J. (2011). Emotion-regulation choice. Psychological Science, 22(11), 1391–1396.
- Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science, 319(5870), 1687–1688.
- Curry, O. S., Rowland, L. A., Van Lissa, C. J., Zlotowitz, S., McAlaney, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2018). Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 320–329.
Common mistake
Using ACCEPTS indefinitely instead of returning to the problem — distraction is crisis-level first aid, not a permanent strategy.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for Distress Tolerance Skills, Made Practical
- TIPP — change your body chemistry fast
Use Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, and Progressive muscle relaxation to drop overwhelm from the body up.
- IMPROVE the moment
Use Imagery, Meaning, Prayer, Relaxation, One thing, Vacation, and Encouragement to get through right now.
- Pros and cons before acting on an urge
List the pros and cons of acting on the crisis urge before you do it — to give the decision back to your wiser self.
- Radical acceptance in a crisis
Fully acknowledge that this is happening right now — stopping the war with reality to free energy for getting through.
- Self-soothe through the five senses
Deliberately comfort yourself through sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch while the crisis peaks.
- Turning the mind toward acceptance
Actively choose acceptance — not once, but each time the mind rebels — treating it as a repeated practice, not a state.
Related concepts
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills, Made Practical
The four DBT skill sets, the mechanisms behind them, and an honest read on the evidence
- Radical Acceptance, Made Practical
Ending the second arrow — RAIN and the skills of accepting what is
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Made Practical
The core ACT processes, the mechanisms behind them, and an honest read on the evidence