TIPP Skills: Practical Tools for Managing Intense Emotions

lines of swimmers diving

When emotions get overwhelming, whether it’s intense anger, anxiety, or sadness, it can feel like you’re riding a rollercoaster with no way off. During these moments, it can be hard to think clearly, and our usual coping strategies might not work. That’s where the TIPP skills come in.

TIPP is an acronym for four powerful skills designed to help you manage extreme emotions in the moment. These strategies are from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), TIPP skills are simple, science-backed tools that can help you regain control when emotions are in the driver's seat. It works by activating our dive reflex. Let’s break down what each letter in TIPP stands for and how you can use these techniques to calm your mind and body.

T - Temperature: Use Cold to Calm Down

The first skill in TIPP is Temperature. When you're feeling overwhelmed by intense emotions, your body reacts with physiological changes, like a racing heart or rapid breathing. One way to interrupt this reaction and calm your nervous system is by changing your body temperature. Specifically, you can use cold to help regulate your emotions.

How to Use Temperature:

• Splash cold water on your face (you can use ice packs or peas from the freezer).

• Put the cold item on your face. 

• Hold your breath for 30 seconds. 

• The shock of cold stimulates the "diving reflex" in your body, which slows down your heart rate and calms your system.

By using cold, you can quickly bring your emotional intensity down, creating enough space for your thinking brain to step in.

I - Intense Exercise: Move Your Body

The Intense Exercise skill is another great way to shift your emotional state. When we experience strong emotions, our bodies are flooded with adrenaline and other stress hormones. Intense physical activity can help "burn off" that excess energy, reducing the intensity of your emotions and helping you feel more grounded. The calming response in our nervous system automatically occurs after around 15-20 minutes of intense exercise.

How to Use Intense Exercise:

• Do a burst of high-intensity exercise. This could be jumping jacks, running up stairs, or doing push-ups for a few minutes.

• Intense exercise looks different for everyone, consider your usual exercise level - even a brisk walk or dancing to your favourite song can help!

  
  

Physical activity helps clear your mind, reduce the physical symptoms of stress, and boost the production of mood-regulating neurotransmitters like endorphins.

P - Paced Breathing: Slow Your Out Breath

When emotions spike, we tend to breathe in long to get lots of oxygen into our body and breathe out fast. Paced Breathing helps you slow your breath down to activate your parasympathetic nervous system (your body's relaxation response). This can have an immediate calming effect on both your mind and body.

How to Use Pacing Your Breathing:

• Try breathing in for 4 seconds and then exhaling for 8 seconds or 3 in and 6 out. 

• Focus on making your exhale longer than your inhale, as this helps signal to your brain that you’re safe and calm.

  
  

Slowing your breathing helps you regulate your emotions by reducing the physical symptoms of stress, like a racing heart or tight chest.

P - Paired Muscle Relaxation: Release Tension

The final skill in TIPP is Paired Muscle Relaxation. When you're feeling overwhelmed, your muscles can tense up without you even realising it. Paired muscle relaxation involves tensing and then relaxing specific muscle groups in your body, which helps release this built-up tension and promotes a state of calm. If you want to do a single muscle, follow these instructions. When you do all your muscles together it is called Progressive Muscle Relaxation. 

How to do Progressive Muscle Relaxation:

• Start at your feet and work your way up through your body. Tense each muscle group for 5-10 seconds, and then release the tension and relax for 20-30 seconds.

• Focus on the difference between the tension and the relaxation. This will help you notice where you're holding stress and teach your body how to release it.

  
  

By practicing these techniques, you can lower your physical and mental stress levels, making it easier to cope with intense emotions.

Putting It All Together

When you’re in the middle of an emotional storm, it’s easy to feel like you’re losing control. But the TIPP skills can help you manage those overwhelming moments effectively. The next time you feel like your emotions are spinning out of control try TIPP. These skills can be combined to quickly reduce the intensity of your emotions. 

The more you practice TIPP, the easier it will become to use these skills when you need them most. While they don’t solve the underlying problem, they can provide immediate relief, giving you the space to think more clearly and make better decisions. Just remember, if and when your emotion is re-triggered you will have to do them again.

Incorporating TIPP into your emotional toolkit is an excellent way to regain control when life feels overwhelming. With time and practice, these skills can help you feel more grounded, calm, and resilient in the face of life’s challenges. If you would like a PDF version of the TIPP skills and stress response please check out the shop.