Low Frustration Tolerance

[PTSDisweird]

There is a thing called low frustration tolerance (lft) i just read on wikipedia. It is about seeking instant pleasure while avoiding things you should do, like things at work, school, college etc. As i understand it, one example is you have something to work on, but instead prefer to sleep or go out or stay on pc late.

So its pretty clear for me i have lft, and the higher the stress in my life, the more pronounced it is. Its so easy for me to skip classes at uni and do anything else. Its easy to assume i am lazy, but its way different than laziness. Anyone can relate?

Edit: for a better understanding, you can go for a quick look at wikipedia.

 

[EveHarrington]

The Wikipedia article is short and has issues. Do you have a better resource? Thanks!

 

[Gs172003]

Wiki always has issues

 

[aut555]

Another definition is procrastination, which can be just as debilitating.

 

[EveHarrington]

No I mean the page literally says that it has issues. I'm not saying it in a flippant way. Many Wikipedia articles are very detailed but this one is not.

 

[Kailani]

Sounds like procrastination to me but not sure. Think there's lots about that out on the Internet

 

[Tinyflame]

But procrastination can come from boredom/too-low brain stimulation, avoidance, difficulty starting, not breaking it up (too big a task), no rewards, forgetting the end result (good) or consequence (bad). Seems to me anything boring is tedious/ frustrating. I think if you can sleep when you lay down you need the sleep.

 

[Friday]

I have enormous distress tolerance, pain tolerance, and a few others. But I have a very finite capacity for stress. As long as I manage that? I'm good to go. When I'm overwhelmed? Pfft. It may look like low tolerance for many things. But it's not.

The PTSD Cup - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Explained

Distress Tolerance, Frustration Tolerance, etc. are each their own thing. People can and do have varying degrees of natural or learned tolerance for many things. They all sort of piece into what makes each of us ourselves (and can also be changed, on purpose or accident, in most cases).

If you have low frustration tolerance / distress tolerance (I'm linking those, because they almost always are & if you want to read a whole lot more about it look up 'distress tolerance' which encompasses both LFT and several other things)... You would probably find DBT (dialectal behavior therapy) very useful!

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I agree fully with @Friday. DBT would be wonderful for this. And i agree that frustration links almost always to distress as something has to get you frustrated to begin with.

Something can be called a name and placed on the internet somehow its a "thing".

You can be tolerant to all sorts of things. You can also be intolerant to all sorts of things. I have a pretty high intolerance to distress. My body litterally shuts down on me where i cant push myself to do anything at that point. I have a thread about that thing right now. But it can be worked on by several means. DBT to help to tolerate distress. Eating healthier. Making deals with myself and several other mind games. Easier things are done as they are easier. Harder things are harder and stressful.

Here's a few things that popped out at me though:

“YOU ASSUME THAT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS AND REACH YOUR GOALS RAPIDLY AND EASILY, SO YOU GO INTO A FRENZIED STATE OF PANIC AND RAGE WHEN LIFE PRESENTS YOU WITH OBSTACLES. RATHER THAN PERSIST PATIENTLY OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, YOU MAY RETALIATE AGAINST THE “UNFAIRNESS” OF IT ALL WHEN THINGS GET TOUGH, SO YOU GIVE UP COMPLETELY. I ALSO CALL THIS THE “ENTITLEMENT SYNDROME” BECAUSE YOU FEEL AND ACT AS IF YOU WERE ENTITLED TO SUCCESS, LOVE, APPROVAL, PERFECT HEALTH, HAPPINESS, ETC. YOUR FRUSTRATION RESULTS FROM YOUR HABIT OF COMPARING REALITY WITH AN IDEAL IN YOUR HEAD. WHEN THE TWO DON’T MATCH, YOU CONDEMN REALITY. IT DOESN’T OCCUR TO YOU THAT IT MAY BE INFINITELY EASIER TO CHANGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS RATHER THAN TO BEND AND TWIST REALITY.”

Low Frustration Tolerance

That makes me think this "thing" follows the age of Entitlement. What our 20 somethings' generation is being called.

A Low Frustration Tolerance is brought about by an exaggerated or distorted view of reality where one believes that a situation is much worse than it is, and a grossly underestimated belief of one's own ability to put up with a situation.

Low Frustration Tolerance definition | Psychology Glossary | alleydog.com

Distorted thinking patterns. Those can also be worked on. So I think DBT to tolerate the harder more stressful things and working with distorted thinking patterns: 15 Common Cognitive Distortions | Psych Central and I think that will be a good start to nipping this in the bud.

 

[EveHarrington]

I think this is a product of living in an instant gratification type world.

We are programmed to want things instantly. If we don't get them, we get mad/sad/frustrated and move on to something that will please us instantly. Including people.

 

[Friday]

I should also add this caveat... If you're ADHD or on the Autism Spectrum? Low Frustration Tolerance is almost always a facet of both those disorders. Each has a wildly different way of treating it, however

((I could tell you the ADHD ways; it's linked into emotional monitoring and regulation & hyperfocus although it has different coping mechanisms and retraining methods for ADHD-I / ADHD-c / ADHD-H, but I don't remember the Autism tools / although I've had his conversation with my cousins (ASD) I don't know how many times...lots... It just never logs into my long term memory. It just gets the perm head-tilt with "Oh. That is weird." So I know the ASD protocols for frustration tolerance are almost polar opposite for ADHD, but I reeeeally can't remember what the heck they are!))

And... Ironically... Neither is linked to distress tolerance with those 2 disorders. They really are almost always linked in neurotypical & other disorders, however. ADHD & Autism Peeps tend to reorganize shit inside our noggins in different ways than most people :p So for most people you'd really want to look into DBT. But if you're ADHD or on the Spectrum? Chase down those methods, instead.

 

[Justmehere]

I have high tolerances for many things but I have a low frustration tolerance in some every day situations. (Other situations I can have a high tolerance.)

DBT and CBT help, so does loweringoverall stress cup levels.

I have ADD and meds for the ADD increase my frustration tolerance in a huge way. It's so annoying because I avoid taking ADD meds at all costs - but when I know I have a day where I absolutely need a higher tolerance, I'll take them. (This is not a recommendation per se, just what it's like for me.)

The other thing that has helped more than anything else is processing the trauma in therapy. (I do a form of somatic experiencing.) I've been very surprised that my tolerance increases so much after sessions and overall is getting better and better. Sometimes I have told my therapist, "omg, is this what it is like for everyone else?" It just suddenly gets so much easier.