For me, part of the problem is the "desperate need" trigger? When I feel like I am desperate, I try to reset. For a long time I would mentally imagine throwing a hand grenade into my mental fox hole but that is a rather harsh image (even though it worked to shift my focus and lower my anxiety). Now I am better at just declaring the result without the imagery; I just say something to myself like, "the gig is up" and I start over from the beginning, just accepting whatever it is that is upsetting me and that there is nothing I can do about it right now, it is out my control.

But usually I find I'm doing most of my fighting and having most of my difficulties in my own head so, instead, I immediately go outside or shift my perspective out of my own head. We can only focus on one thing at once so making myself focus elsewhere, "doing" something that takes my mind away from being able to think too much at the same time, can lower my threshold so I can get a better grip with "normal" coping tools. Just "break" the problem in some way? Imagine it as a discreet thing, say a cup or plate and then go break a cup or plate? I just declare things broken/gone/at an end and start acting "as if".