Grounding Techniques

The main thing I learned through both of the therapy sessions was grounding techniques. With PTSD the mind gets confused and thinks it is in the past, this is why the body reacts in a panic as it believes the event is happening now. The body goes into fight or flight mode. Grounding techniques help to bring the mind back to the present.

With anxiety it is so easy to quickly become overwhelmed with emotions, and grounding techniques help to calm the body down and focus on the here and now.

I thought I would share some of the techniques that I personally find really helpful.

1. The technique that I find works best for me when having a PTSD episode is the Past and Present technique. The aim is to help the mind realise that the event isn’t happening now by pointing out the differences to it, for example:

- When the event happened I was 30 years old, I am now 32.

- When the event happened I was wearing a hospital gown, today I am wearing leggings and a top.

- When the event happened it was October, it is now June.

By talking these through either out loud or in your head, you are helping your mind to differentiate between the past and present. The key words I find that help are ‘was’ and ‘am’.

2. When the body is going into a panic your breathing can very quickly become affected. A simple exercise I do to help control this is to breathe in for 4 seconds and out for 7.

3. When having a particularly bad anxiety day I find the 5 senses exercise really useful, I will often do this outside. Either out loud or in my head I will find 5 things I can see, 4 things I can hear, 3 things I can touch, 2 things I can smell and 1 thing I can taste. By focusing on my surroundings it gives my mind and body time to calm down and focus on the here and now.

4. I wear a necklace every day. This isn’t just because I like to, it is also a grounding technique for me. If I am becoming anxious people may notice I hold onto the necklace and start to twiddle it. This is partly an anxious reaction but it is also a way of holding on to the present moment through a physical object. It doesn’t have to be a necklace it can be any object; something you wear or something that can be kept in a pocket.

5. Writing things down. Just by writing any worries or thoughts that are on my mind really helps. By putting them on paper it feels as if they are momentarily taken out of my mind until I can come back and deal with them at a better time.

These are just a few of many techniques. They take practice but eventually they can almost become a second nature for those moments of anxiety. Hopefully in time I won’t have to use them as much.