ACCEPTS
When you need to distract until the wave passes. It’s one of the DBT distress tolerance skills, and the skills picker can route a client here in the moment.
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Open the skills pickerWhat is ACCEPTS?
ACCEPTS is a DBT distress tolerance crisis-survival skill for distracting yourself until an urge or an emotional wave passes. The letters stand for Activities, Contributing, Comparisons, Emotions (opposite), Pushing away, Thoughts, and Sensations.
It buys time. Urges and intense emotions tend to peak and then fall; ACCEPTS gives you a menu of ways to get through the peak without acting on it or making the situation worse.
When to reach for ACCEPTS
When you need to distract until the wave passes.
A common misconception
ACCEPTS is not avoidance, and it’s not suppression. The difference is intent and duration. Skillful distraction is deliberate and temporary — you’re riding out a crisis peak so you can deal with the problem from a steadier place later. Avoidance is a permanent escape from something you need to face. ACCEPTS is a bridge, not a hiding place.
How to practice ACCEPTS
- Look at the menu. Pick what fits the moment:
- **Activities** — something physical or absorbing (cooking, gaming, cleaning).
- **Contributing** — something for someone else (text a friend, small kindness).
- **Comparisons** — to someone struggling more, or to your past self at a worse moment.
- **Emotions / Pushing away / Thoughts / Sensations** — funny video / mentally box it / count by 7s / hold ice.
ACCEPTS in practice
After a fight, a client has a strong urge to self-harm. They use Activities (go for a walk) and Sensations (hold ice) to get through the roughly twenty-minute peak of the urge. By the time it passes, the crisis skill has done its job — they didn’t act, and the wave receded on its own.
Related skills
Tracking ACCEPTS on a diary card
Whether a client used ACCEPTS — and whether it helped — is exactly what a DBT diary card captures. Recording skill use day by day is how you see, in session, whether distress tolerance skills are generalizing.
Track skill use for free
Build a custom diary card that tracks the skills you’re working on, or track it digitally in Theracharts.
Build a diary cardAll DBT skillsFAQ
What is ACCEPTS in DBT?
ACCEPTS is a DBT distress tolerance skill. When you need to distract until the wave passes.
When should I use ACCEPTS?
Reach for ACCEPTS when you need to distract until the wave passes.
What does ACCEPTS stand for?
Activities, Contributing, Comparisons, Emotions (opposite), Pushing away, Thoughts, and Sensations — seven ways to distract until an urge or emotion passes.
Isn’t distraction just avoidance?
Not when it’s used skillfully. ACCEPTS is deliberate, temporary distraction to survive a crisis peak — with the intention of returning to the problem later. Avoidance is ongoing escape. The intent and the time frame are what separate them.
In crisis? Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, US) — free, confidential, 24/7. This page is educational and is not therapy, diagnosis, or a substitute for professional care.