Breathing and Grounding

[morgan]

I thought I'd bring this back up since there are so many new people here lately. I hate to see it get permanently lost or something. Besides, I worked very hard on this thread.:wink:

 

[Lisa]

Glad you did bring it back morgan :) This is something my therapist has asked me to work on this week. He has told me to simply say "I know what's happening" when the emotions overtake and flashback begins. He explained to me that it is about getting the thinking logical and verbal part of the brain thinking (as for me there are no words to the specific stuff he's trying to ground me with), because for me at the moment it's all tending to be entirely automated emotion.

It's been helpful to read this post, as I've never read it before...

Thanks
Lisa.

 

[nic]

Question:
Morgan, one of the things you stated,

"1. Focus on something outside yourself that doesn't cause you any distress"

really works for me. I tend to think of something that is as far away from the PTSD or trauma as possible, and if I can get the trauma "out of my head" and focus on soemthing else, I tend to be okay. BUT, it seems like everyone on this forum says that you have to "work through it," and not just dissociate or anything. I don't get it.

 

[morgan]

nic, being able to ground yourself after reading your trauma, helps you work through it. I'm not sure if I can explain it right but, I'll try.

As you're reading your trauma, you my begin to have flashbacks and intrusive thoughts and possibly dissociate. When you are done reading you'll want to bring yourself back to the present. That is where grounding comes in.

Grounding is good for flashbacks, dissociation, hypervigilance, anxiety and intrusive thoughts. It is not designed to avoid it is designed to put you in touch with the here and now.

I honestly don't think I did a very good job of answering your question. But that is the best I can do. I'm not very good at explaining things. I hope this helped some anyway.

Take care, Morgan

 

[Grama-Herc]

If I may add a suggestion to the list. I sometimes will go look into my mirror and tell myself that I am ok and this feeling will pass. I actually look into my eyes during this grounding.

Try this when panic attacks you. That is when it seems to work for me.

 

[morgan]

check this out Ladies a gentlemen. this is a thread i bring back up every now and then as new people start coming. I hope it is very helpful and that you can get something out of it.

Best wishes, Morgan

 

[Dylan]

What a terrific thread!

I have also found that tools that may not work when I first try them may
work later on.

I never had any luck with the whole breathing thing. What worked for me was the senses attention (focusing on what I was seeing, hearing, feeling - tactile). Recently, I went back and tried breathing techniques and they're helping.

I also find that, if I'm not badly triggered, arranging my body in a posture that is calm and relaxed a helps. I'm realizing that the physical is much more tied to my mental/emotional states than I ever thought. Just because I felt completely compartmentalized doesn't mean I really was, I guess! :rolleyes:
I practice going from my "triggered" posture (kind of hunched, slumped, eyes very wide) to my "ok" posture (sitting up straight, eye-gaze calm and eyes not open so wide, belly breathing). It's amazing the impact it has.

Lately I've developed a mantra that says, "My experience growing up is NOT my experience in reality now. It is NOT THE SAME" and helps me differentiate between my automatic/historical responses, as if I'm stuck in history and what's happening now, who I AM now.

I also have started doing a 'boundary check' when I start to feel like I don't exist. I narrow my awareness down to just my body: "This is me" and focus on/picture the outline of my body: "This is where I end". I will even rub my arms or something to get that idea of boundary - I can even do it in public - just pretending I'm cold or have an itch.

Also, as others have stated: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

What I do repetitively when calm, will be MUCH MUCH MUCH more available as a usable tool when triggered. The more I practice, the more it will be there.

Thanks for the great thread!

-Dylan

 

[Tinyflame]

When I feel a negative feeling coming on or the intrusive thoughts are building, I do deep-breathers and try to take notice of each of my senses in the present: I focus on something to look at and the details, the feel of a surface or object around me - particular, what I hear, the smells. I also remind myself that that was the past, and this is "now" and ok.

After the fact I ask myself, what was the trigger and how did it (try) to make me feel? Then I do some "educated guessing" about when during a trauma I felt like that and what is the similarity. If I can get it down to that, the next time it goes to occur, I think, For example, "That's because the carpetting reminds me of crying at the funeral (I didn't cry publically anywhere else, except once), and "digging my nails into my hand" to not cry, and what a LONG walk it seemed." Then- poof!- When I'm in the same environment the next time, I can think of that but there is no emotional trigger.

 

[skyp56]

Morgan, thank you so much for your hard work on this thread! Thanks, too, for bringing it back to the top, as I am new to this forum, and would surely have missed it.

I am so new in my dx of PTSD, that I am just learning how it has affected my emotions, my thoughts, my posture, and my reactions to others. I copied all the suggestions in this thread, and put them in my hard drive. I intend to look at them often (ran out of ink for my printer). And I will try to start practicing them, as they jibe totally with things my therapist is telling me.

Again, thanks!
skyp

 

[morgan]

No problem Skyp. I hope you find them helpful as I do. It takes some practice so don't give up. Give different things a try and a fair chance to work and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck, Morgan

 

[FlameTachiku]

Hi Morgan,

This is a great thread to learn from others how to get though the tougher stuff.

I remember when it used to feel like I was falling into a black hole or darkness, gently falling into a pit of terror.Horrible. Then things would be ok for awhile and then it would happen again. Then I started thinking about it even when it was not happening :poke:and getting scared. But, I learned to recognize what I was feeling and what was happening to my body and stop that experience before it happen. With self talk, I will not go there, I have a choice, it am fine, and while I talk breathing. I now practice breathing and making the air flow in and out using a figure 8 and then reversing it, with using the chest breathing mixed with tummy breathing.

The tree method of grounding made me laugh. When I am in a room and absolutly am going to jump out of my skin but can excape, I look out a window and if there is a tree, it blurrs and I disasociate. Very fast and very easily. Opps, I am learning here that is not a good tool, dang. I was good at that one!:crazy:

Well Thanks Morgan I am looking foward to trying new techniques that have been introduced in this thread.

Flame

 

[morgan]

Kunoichi, This thread may be relevant to a comment you made in another thread. There are several techniques to grounding yourself. You may want to try a different method before you give up completely. Grounding is one of the best tools for dissociation. It also works for flashbacks and intrusive thoughts.

Hope this helps, Morgan