Grounding Yourself
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‘Grounding yourself’ brings you back to reality and stops your thoughts racing when you are feeling very anxious or panicky. Grounding techniques are also very useful if you suffer from flashbacks or panic attacks.
Grounding yourself stops you losing touch with where you are by concentrating your thoughts on your surroundings. Grounding techniques can be useful to distract yourself when you feel like your anxiety is getting out of control.
Here’s what Chloe had to say about her experiences of grounding herself:
“I learned some grounding techniques during my treatment and I found them really very useful. I would become so overwhelmed by anxious feelings and horrible memories. It was good to be able to distract myself and draw myself out of panicky feelings. It was so simple, but so effective. I’d recommend learning some grounding techniques to anyone with PTSD!”
Grounding techniques use sight, sound, smell, touch and taste to help you draw your attention to the present moment. It is useful to practice these techniques when you are calm so that you know how to do them when you feel anxious. Some helpful grounding techniques are described below. Try as many as you like and continue using those you find effective.
Sight: List everything you can see around you. Count all the pieces of furniture in the room. Notice what colour the carpet and curtains are etc. You can also try focusing on anything in the room that brings comfort or makes you feel safe.
Sound: Listen to loud music or sing/speak aloud. As with sight you can also make a list of all the noises around you. Some people find clapping their hands or stomping their feet on the ground helpful.
Touch: Feel and notice the texture of clothes you're wearing or the chair you're sat on. Some people find rubbing ice on themselves also grounds them.
Smell: Sniff something strong smelling e.g. perfume, peppermint.
Taste: Eat or bite into something with a strong taste e.g. a lemon or something salty.
The mind: Telling yourself repeatedly that you are in the here and now and that you’re safe can help. Calling a friend or family member and asking them to talk to you about things you have done together recently may also be effective. Some people find that mentally distracting themselves by listing as many cities, football teams etc. as they can works for them.
Chloe tried several techniques and continues using what works for her. Click on the link below to watch a clip of Chloe learning about grounding from her therapist:
Here’s what Chloe had to say about grounding herself “When I get anxious, I make a list in my head of everything I see around me. I describe it all in detail “there are curtains, they’re red, they don’t quite touch the floor, there’s a pattern of blue squares running along the bottom” and so on. It takes my mind away from my worried feelings and makes me feel safe. It distracts me and refocuses my thoughts so that I stop feeling like I’m losing control. I describe colours, patterns, shapes. I keep doing this until I feel calm again. That’s what works for me”.
Later in the programme we will ask you to complete tasks aimed at helping you to face up to your fears and start coming to terms with the trauma. We will be asking you to use grounding techniques to control your anxiety. It is therefore useful to learn and master some of these techniques now, so that you can use them easily later.
10 tips for grounding yourself
1. Remember that a panic attack, flashback or period of feeling very anxious will never harm you - this is a medical fact. You are safe. The sensations are unpleasant but will pass and no harm will come to you. Learning Grounding Techniques will help you cope and stay in control until the feelings fade.
2. Print out or write a list of grounding techniques and keep these to hand to try out when you have time and use when you feel anxious.
3. Practise the techniques. If you have tried using them when you were calm, you will already know how to use them when needed.
4. Keep your eyes open when grounding yourself, so that you can focus on what is around you.
5. Speak aloud if you’re able, describing what you are seeing and doing.
6. Teach a loved one about grounding and when you need to use it. They can remind you to use the techniques and do it with you (e.g. they can ask you to describe your surroundings and prompt you).
7. Try several of the techniques above before deciding what works for you. Different techniques work for different people.
8. Don’t give up if one technique doesn’t work for you, simply try another.
9. Once you have grounded yourself, do something relaxing like going for a walk or playing some music.
10. Record the grounding techniques you use in your activities diary. Describe the situation and whether or not the technique you used was helpful.
It is now time to try the ‘Quick Quiz’! Don’t worry if you can’t answer correctly first time, the aim is to help you understand more about grounding yourself. Feel free to come back and read this information again.
