Discomfort-Intolerance: Is it really unbearable?Do you ever tell yourself that you can’t stand, tolerate or endure something? You can make it harder to cope with unpleasant situations when you have thoughts like:
What we’re often afraid of is not the situation itself, but rather the unpleasant feelings we associate with it. In other words, we anticipate feeling bad (e.g. putting ourselves down, getting anxious, feeling rejected or hurt, etc.) and tell ourselves we simply can’t stand the discomfort of feeling like that. This in turn leads to the demand: Because I can’t stand to experience such discomfort, therefore I must not. Unfortunately, such a combination of awfulising and demanding makes us even more uptight! This common tendency is known as discomfort-intolerance, or low discomfort-tolerance (colloquially called 'can't-stand-it-itis'). It is a significant cause of many of the emotional problems that afflict human beings. Discomfort anxietyLow discomfort-tolerance leads to discomfort anxiety: the unpleasant sensation that occurs when we perceive some threat to our physical or emotional comfort. As well as discomfort-intolerance, awfulising and demanding are usually involved:
If we kept our desire for comfort as a preference, we would be just disappointed or concerned when it was not met. Turning comfort into an absolute 'need' is what makes it seem catastrophic. It also creates what is called secondary disturbance - having a problem about a problem. If we catastrophise about discomfort, and demand that we avoid it, we make ourselves uncomfortable! Increasing your discomfort-toleranceHow do you overcome low discomfort-tolerance? It involves a combination of rethinking and action:
Rethinking discomfortSee discomfort is a normal part of life that, generally, only becomes a problem when you tell yourself you cannot stand it. Get rid of the idea that you should not have to feel discomfort. This demand will only lead to anxiety about discomfort and possibly resentment when it does occur. Preferring to avoid it is fine - just keep it as a preference. Of course you don’t like discomfort —but you can stand it. To say that you ‘can’t stand’ something is really implying that you will die if you’re exposed to it. But is this true? Obviously not! Clearly, you’ve stood many unpleasant events and circumstances - otherwise you wouldn’t be here to tell the tale. They may have been uncomfortable, unpleasant or undesirable. But, in spite of your discomfort, you stood them! If you see yourself as able to tolerate unpleasant happenings, you will avoid adding to the pain. Give up the idea that you should be able to feel good all the time. Learn to tolerate unpleasant feelings. Find out how to change them but without demanding you avoid them entirely. When you are confident you can handle bad feelings and that you can stand them, they will, paradoxically, bother you less in the first place! Ask, ‘Why is such and such unbearable, rather than uncomfortable?’, ‘What makes this intolerable, rather than unpleasant?’ Don’t indulge in unrealistic 'positive thinking' - acknowledge that some things are unpleasant, uncomfortable and inconvenient. Just don’t make them into anything more. Getting into actionMake a list of activities or situations you typically avoid, or behaviours you engage in, because you are trying to avoid feeling uncomfortable: going into public places, speaking to strangers, learning a new skill, misusing drugs, alcohol or food, losing your temper, putting off difficult tasks, and so on. Then commit yourself to confronting one or more of these things each day, using the technique of exposure. Instead of trying to get away from the discomfort as you normally would, stay with the negative feelings until they diminish of their own accord. You can prepare yourself to cope with the discomfort by using rational self-analysis, imagery, and the blow-up technique. Afterwards, do a catastrophe scale to get your reaction to the discomfort into perspective. If you have suffered a loss you think you cannot survive, try using ‘time projection’ to get the future into perspective. Regular use of rational self-analysis to identify and change irrational thinking about discomfort will probably give you the best results in the long term. As you challenge exaggerated thinking, don’t fall into the trap of so-called ‘positive thinking’. Telling yourself that everything is all right won’t work for long. In the real world there are negatives and bad things do happen, so acknowledge unpleasant realities — just keep them in perspective. Remember, if you learn to tolerate frustration and bad feelings, they’ll trouble you less in the first place Mountains Back to MolehillsSee the list of typical discomfort-intolerance thoughts below. Alongside each is a more realistic alternative.
Other resources on raising discomfort-toleranceLinks in this program
Further reading
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