Grounding Techniques

[MrsBeasley86]

I have episodes of depersonalization. Yay me. I haven't had any in about 3 years. Now they are back. A few people have mentioned grounding techniques. I'm new to these. My therapist has only worked on dealing with anxiety. But I have panic attacks because of my depersonalization. So I was wanting some tips on grounding. What kinds of things should I try?
Also, I would love to hear how other people feel during their dissociation. I think it would make me feel better if I know I'm not alone. Thanks :)

 

[Anarchy]

Grounding and centering is whatever brings you back to the present, and back into your body.

Avoid going for painful techniques, and self harm.

My quickest is to look around at different shapes and colours in my environment. Perhaps counting as many of each colour from the rainbow, or looking for different shapes in different orientations.

The more of your senses you can engage, the better.

If you have them available, nice tastes smells, like aromatherapy oils, and nice bodily sensations, like a heavy soft blanket, are good.

For returning to your body, three slow deep breaths, and then concentrating on your breathing, start at the top of your head and work all the way around each part of your body, noticing how it feels and relaxing any tension you find there. It's called a body scan, and you should be able to find it as a guided meditation on YouTube, Zindal Segal does a good one.

A good way to practice rapid grounding is to ground during an emotion tweeking part of a film,especially in the cinema. It's good to be able to practice keeping a part of you rooted in the present, so if you are experiencing regressions, you can recognise that those feelings belong to then, and you are no longer there, you are in the here and now, safe.

Pete Walker's cptsd site has some good grounding tips

Also, ignore the word depression in the title, " the mindful way through depression " is very good, you'll get the full audio book off YouTube.

 

[MrsBeasley86]

Thank you for the advice! I've heard so much about meditation. I just feel like my mind races too much to do it.

 

[watundah]

We started with simply putting my feet flat against the ground and being aware of them there. Focusing on my feet, bonded to the earth, a point of stability.

When I dissociate, it's an altered state of staring off and thinking and feeling nothing. I suppose it is an out of body sensation although I can get deepky withdrawn alternatively. It does stimulate some kind of feel good dopamine or something as it is an addictive form of aelf hypnosis.

Im learning to stop it but it has been an easy go to place for me and hard to leave behind in exxhange for focusing on ataying present.

I was 54 when I finally met a therapist who pointwd this out to me. To think how much time Ive spent being out of it. Oish!

 

[UnKnown-Self]

I have been dissociating more lately and I am working on becoming more aware. It became a real problem when I started dissociating while driving. Suddenly I wouldn't recognize where I was and I would be on the street where my apartment is located.

On the way home from therapy I suddenly heard a horn beeping incessantly. I was driving on the wrong side of the road and headed for the ditch. The truck beeping was coming in the opposite direction. Fortunately, he slowed and I pulled into the proper lane so no one was hurt.

The last time I was backing out of my parking place at a convenience store. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a car passing behind me. I paused then slowly started again. My car has an alarm that beeps when there is something close behind it. I heard the beeping but it was far away and unreal. Next thing I knew, I had bumped into the car behind me. No one was hurt, the police took all information and the other driver's car had a little red paint smudge from my car. My car Ruby, now has a decent dent in her rear fender.

Now when I drive alone I talk out loud to keep myself grounded. I say, "I am driving and headed towards (insert place) my hands are on the wheel, my foot is on the gas/break, my ass is in the seat and I have my seat belt on. I need to be safe and stay focused on my driving." I repeat as often as I feel necessary. If the conversation starts in my head or thoughts pop in, I'll say, "I can't focus on that right now. I need to focus on driving to stay safe." I'll keep talking out loud as long and as often as I need to.

It feels silly sometimes and a bit extreme but it works for me.

At first I would tell myself to shut up when the thoughts would start. I stayed focused but I also felt bad inside. When I mentioned this to my therapist, she suggested the gentler approach that I now use and posted above.

The whole thing made me more aware.

 

[theshadowoftheliving]

I find breathing helps, slow, paced breathing. And being aware of the weight of my body on the chair or the ground. And, especially in therapy, we'll just start to go over the facts - what room I'm in, what building I'm in, what neighborhood, what city .... And she'll remind me I'm safe. Sometimes I try to do these things on my own as well.