New DBT Skill: Reach for a Frozen Orange

If you are someone who is prone to experiencing intense emotions, intense negative or difficult feelings, or hurting yourself during periods of severe emotional anguish, you might want to pop an orange into your freezer. This is actually a real DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) skill.

Next time you have an episode or crisis, take the orange out of the freezer and try peeling it. Doing the action helps bring the nervous system back online as they say.

Peeling a frozen orange is a slow, deliberate process which refocuses your attention and helps deescalate those difficult and intense emotions, while the cold also acts to help calm the nervous system. I learned this from my therapist last week, and used it during an episode last night and it really helped me snap out of it or ease the intensity and helped with dysregulation.