Grounding Vs Dissociation

[Justmehere]

Yep that's exactly what it is!

All grounding is ways to connect with the here and now, right now. That's it.

The reason why it works with dissociation when talking about the trauma is that the trauma is in the past, the feelings that are overwhelming a person to the point they dissociate are inherently about the past, so grounding is simply ways to shift the brains attention to the here and now.

Mindfulness provides a lot of ways to connect to here and now that don't mean a focus on the body. A common one my therapist uses is to notice everything in the room that is blue, then everything that is green, and etc. sometimes she will have us bounce shall back and forth. In order to catch the ball, I have to be focused on what the ball is doing in the present moment.

There are also containment excerise that help the brain shift focus. For example, my therapist will have me imagine putting away the work in a file or in a box in her office. And that the box is closed... Half the time I think this is goofy, half the time it works a little to help bring me out of the dissociation.

 

[digger]

grounding that focuses ones attention on the surroundings or environment.

This describes pretty much all the grounding I do. Paying attention to external details in the here and now that make it the here and now. I don't ground myself into my body, just back into the right time and place.
Hadn't really thought about it until now - my T sometimes gets me to try and plant my feet more firmly on the ground or touch the arms of the chair, and my head has always resisted these ones - I guess that also comes down to not wanting to pay attention to where my body is at.

Interesting.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

@Justmehere , well said! I used the same notice everything that is a certain color technique, too. My therapist and I will sometimes play "I Spy" as well. I have used a ball on my own- throwing it up in the air and catching it, but that would be a good one for therapy, too. Another good one @pixel , is to be mindful about your shoes- just describe them and notice everything about them (unless your shoes are a trigger) this works really well.

I use containment as well. I have a whole guided-meditation-type script and almost always use the same image as it really worked for my system. I use Gringott's Bank from Harry Potter. I have a friend who uses Rumplestilskin's cell from Once Upon a Time. The cool thing about containment imagery and putting things away is that you can use whatever image you want. Some people imagine a shelf of books or a safe at the bottom of an ocean. All kinds of things. The idea (as far as I was taught it) is that you can put it away as long as it is an image you can recall later when it's a better time to try working on whatever it is, but until then, whatever is has to stay contained.

 

[Gs172003]

Being numb can feel good.

The problem is the numb-flood cycle. The more a person numbs out, the mor...

Damn. I learn more and more every time I log on here

 

[pixel]

@Justmehere & @JEKBreatheandBelieve today wasnt a great day so i had a crack at your suggestion of counting the colours in the room:
blue =12
pink/purple = 6
red = 5
green = 2
:D:D:D:cp:

waaaaay better than grounding into the body, thanks guys!


Side point: it kept me mentally present, since the event im like a wounded animal - curled up mentally and physically shuffling around not talking to anybody.
but now — im leaving the body. im only in my fingers to tell you this

 

[quadratus]

Yep that's exactly what it is!

All grounding is ways to connect with the here and now, right now. T...

the ultimate goal of my therapy is to live in the here and now, i don't think it is called grounding, but is the same idea, and we get there through sensation. [I also have done mindfulness and containment with another therapist.]

 

[pixel]

What's containment?

Holding your emotions in? Compartmentalising them? Not showing your emotions?
:tdown:

 

[quadratus]

What's containment?

Holding your emotions in? Compartmentalising them? Not showing your emotions?
:tdown...

compartmentalizing is a better word, where you file a thought, or put it someplace you can access later.

 

[pixel]

Thank you @quadratus is it referring to emotions or toughts?

If thoughts, than I have an entire library 3 stories high and 12 vault levels deep, perfectly categorised utilising the Dewy Decimal System including a regular stocktake, cleaning and weeding process. :D:D:D

If emotions, then I have, um..... *drip*

*drip*

*drip*

*drip*

:ninja:

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

What's containment?

I can tell you a lot about containment the way I learned it. I took a class in it when I was in-patient somewhere. At first I was very skeptical that it would work, but the more I gave it a try and used different options, the more helpful I find it.

There are 4 basic steps to containment.
1. Experience (not what you are experiencing: a flashback, an certain emotion, a nightmare, allow yourself to notice it ...)
2. Express (state it out loud, write about it, name it...)
3. Contain (use some method of physical or imagery or combination or both to contain what ever is overwhelming you)
4. Retrieve (this step often comes much later or in therapy- take whatever you contained (one thing at a time or a few that are similar) and work more with the- why, what happened before, is there some situation I was in that caused this, what can I do next time...)

There's a lot more to the containment step, which I'd be happy to explain more about containment as I learned if yo'd like.

And a disclaimer, containment is not just shoving emotions away, it's very purposeful and done with the intention of coming back to it. And if you have parts you I want to tell you the rule I learned: you can't contain parts (it just makes things worse with them if you try).

 

[pixel]

Oh Jek, I appreciate what you've written. :)

I am very interested in this.

But I have parts, and as I read your last sentence:

if you have parts you I want to tell you the rule I learned: you can't contain parts (it just makes things worse with them if you try).

a Part has begun screaming at me :arghh; I don't understand why.

It looks like we're gonna have to have a group meeting, before we go any further.

Will let you know when/if we want more info on containment :( thanks for your offer