DBT Urge Surfing | How It Works
DBT Urge Surfing is a mindfulness-based technique used to help individuals manage urges and cravings. This technique is very popular in the treatment of addictions, as a distress tolerance skill in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and as a tool for emotional management in many other disciplines.
Understanding DBT Urge Surfing
The idea behind urge surfing is that difficult urges and cravings are like waves in the ocean – they rise and fall in intensity, and if we can learn to ride them out, they will eventually subside. Rather than giving in to an urge, a person learns to ride it out, like a surfer riding a wave. After a short time, the urge will pass on its own. This technique can be used to stop or reduce drug and alcohol use, emotional reactions such as “blowing up” when angry, gambling, and other unwanted behaviors.
How It Works
Like an ocean wave, urges gradually build intensity, they peak, and then they fade away. DBT urge surfing teaches clients to use mindfulness as a tool to accept an urge and its discomfort, rather than attempting to suppress it. While riding out an urge, it can help to practice basic relapse prevention skills. This technique also offers education on managing triggers and using delay and distraction.
How to Practice DBT Urge Surfing
Before urge surfing, clients should have some insight into their triggers and the ability to recognize urges. Like any skill, urge surfing requires practice to master. While practicing, keep in mind that it is normal to experience emotional discomfort while riding out an urge, but giving in is not the only way to remove that discomfort.
Here are some steps to practice DBT urge surfing:
- Watch the breath: Don’t alter it. Let the breath breathe itself.
- Notice your thoughts: Without judging, feeding or fighting your thoughts, gently bring your attention back to the breath.
- Notice the urge as it affects the body: Focus on one area of the body where you can feel the physical sensations associated with the urge and notice what is occurring.
- Notice quality, position, boundaries & intensity of the sensation: Does the sensation feel tight or loose? Does the sensation have a temperature? Where is the sensation located?
Conclusion
DBT Urge surfing is a powerful tool that can help individuals manage their urges and cravings. It is a technique that requires practice, but with time and patience, it can become a valuable part of one’s toolkit for managing unwanted behaviors and emotions. Remember, the first waves are some of the most difficult to ride, but when urges go unfed, future urges gradually become weaker.
