"The Five Senses": A Handy Coping Skill for Parents

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) emphasizes the use of Distress Tolerance Skills; those that help us regulate our emotions, thoughts and ideally find ourselves somewhere in the middle in effort to balance our decisions. Distress tolerance means we find a way to accept and cope with difficult emotions, thoughts and situations that typically have us feeling overwhelmed, sometimes even hopeless. How can our senses help us do that?!

For a minute, let's pay attention to our sophisticated sensory system. Essentially, this system is a relationship between our brain and our body which alerts us to all sorts of stimulation that cues us into our environment. Commonly recognized sensory systems include touch, taste, sound, smell and sight. Now, take it one step further- sensory processing means that our brain is making sense of our sensory input to help us organize, understand and respond to stimulation.

Difficult situations tend to produce negative emotions including anxiety, sadness, and anger. At times, we may experience heightened distress in loud, chaotic environments such as cafeterias, school hallways, or large classrooms. In such events we find ourselves highly sensitive to this auditory and visual stimulation. When we are angry we tend to feel a surge of frustration, tension in our body, and may clench our fists, feel the urge to throw something or lash out.

The goal of the coping strategy commonly known as “The Five Senses” can reduce stress and help us relax in any environment. What is even more interesting is that we can engage one sense to counteract or calm another. For example, if you are feeling anxious and over-stimulated in the noisy cafeteria, you can take a quick walk down a quiet hallway and practice “sight”- read all of the signs you can see in this hallway or focus on a mind-game and look for all the exit signs you can find.

By entering a quiet space and focusing on reading the material you have allowed that noisy, overcrowded part of your brain to chill-out!! Funny enough, our brains can do a lot but it just can’t do two things at this exact same time- meaning you can’t think about your anxiety when you are walking and reading the signs that you see!! This should allow your anxiety time to take a back seat, calm itself down, while you sit in the driver seat or your body. 

Here are some helpful self-soothing sensory strategies. Give them a whirl! 

Sight

• Photos of loved ones, pets, or something you find beautiful
• A movie, video or your favorite book or magazine
• Go outside, look up at the clouds, look at the trees, look at the landscape
• Kaleidoscope

Touch

• Brush your hair
• Put on soft, comfy clothing
• Heat Therapy- heated blanket or heating pad, hot shower or bath
• Fidget toys, stress ball, or bean bag
• Scribble 
• Play doh or silly putty
• Rip up sheets of paper
• Hold ice
• Hug someone you love, this includes pets

Smell

• Scented candles
• Lotion
• Cotton ball dipped in essential oil
• Go outside and study what you smell- grass, rain, leaves, flowers

Sound

• Favorite playlist, make one just for this exercise!
• Go outside, what do you hear? Birds, cars, lawnmower, really zone in on it
• Play an instrument
• Audio books

Taste

• Hard or chewy candy
• Chewing gum
• Your favorite snack
• Anything with crunch- carrot or celery sticks, pretzels
  

Experiment with your senses. This can be fun and relaxing. Consider creating your sensory tool box with all of your favorite sensory items. You can carry this in your backpack or purse. Now, go make sense of your senses!

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