Distraction can be a helpful coping strategy when we're too distressed to cope with the situation or when we're tempted to use unhelpful coping strategies such as self harm, substance misuse, binge eating or ruminating. These coping strategies cause more problems than they solve and will probably leave you feeling worse than before. In this case distracting yourself might be the best thing you could do. But if we rely on distraction every time we feel upset we won’t learn how to deal with our emotions effectively. In this episode I discuss how and when to use distraction for the best results.