Radical Acceptance-How can acceptance help me with my mental health?
Looking at the definition of acceptance, I feel we can take a lot away from the meaning and apply it to areas of our mental health. Acceptance is defined by Websters dictionary in human psychology as “A person's assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition that is a fait accompli without attempting to change it or protest it” “Acceptance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acceptance. Accessed 20 Oct. 2023.
Looking at the definition, what stands out to me is the line recognizing a process or condition without attempting to change or protest it. By accepting the facts of reality without responding to it. It can be so easy to respond immediately, to throw a tantrum, to not accept the reality. When this becomes a problem, we can come to the idea of radical acceptance. I do not need to love or approve of something to accept it, rather I need to radically accept it for what it is. To radically accept fully with our mind, body, and spirit that we cannot change what we cannot control. We accept what is not in our control and take ourselves away from the unhappiness, stress and anger that can come from ourselves by not accepting. Radical acceptance is a distress tolerance skill taken from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).
Within OCD, the uncertainty can be a major obstacle for making progress. A goal we aim to work on in therapy is to learn more about the practices of radical acceptance to challenge uncertainty. With radical acceptance, we can take away the fear that uncertainty holds against us. We can learn that uncertainty doesn’t have to feel scary or dangerous, and not let it stop us from making decisions. By diving deeper in full radical acceptance, the fears and doubts can lose their strength and we can feel more confident in making a healthy decision. In therapy, we will use specific exercises, worksheets, and videos to help build up radical acceptance. Gaining insight about living a life that is radically accepting of situations. Learning more about how to fit this lifestyle change of acceptance into my life.
Here are some common examples of things I might struggle to accept. Could I use radical acceptance to help me deal with these examples? What does life look if I could not accept these examples?
Criticisms
Judgements
Mistakes
Rejection
Getting fired
A Relationship Ending
The Past
Change
Aging
My mental health diagnosis
Needing Help
Death
